- Cyberattack targeting Winter Olympics reportedly blocked
- Italy says attack was “of Russian origin”
- La Sapienza University in Rome also suffered an attack
The Italian government has claimed that a series of cyberattacks of “Russian origin” targeting the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina have been blocked.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the attack hit facilities related to the 2026 Winter Games, including hotels in the Alpine town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, where athletes were staying.
The wide-ranging attack reportedly hit some 120 targets, including Foreign Office offices in the US, as well as consulates in Sydney, Toronto and Paris, and La Sapienza University in Rome was also hit in an apparently separate attack also attributed to Russian-linked hackers.
“Series of cyber attacks”
“We have prevented a series of cyber attacks against Foreign Ministry headquarters, starting in Washington and also affecting some Winter Olympic Games venues, including hotels in Cortina,” Tajani said, adding that there were no significant disruptions.
The attack was claimed by the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16), which claimed responsibility and described the campaign as retaliation for Italy’s support for Ukraine.
“The Italian government’s pro-Ukrainian policy means that support for Ukrainian terrorists is punished with our DDoS attacks,” the group said on Telegram.
Russia is currently banned from competing in the Summer and Winter Olympics following its invasion of Ukraine, although some Russian-born athletes have been allowed to compete as neutral representatives, without flags.
La Sapienza is one of the largest universities in Europe, with around 120,000 students. Following the alleged attack, it deleted its website and other related computer systems, and is now attempting to restore access using unaffected backups.
In a recent post and Instagram stories, the university said it disabled its systems out of an abundance of caution for what appeared to be a ransomware attack.
“As a precautionary measure, and in order to ensure the integrity and security of data, the immediate shutdown of network systems has been ordered,” the organization said.
He added that an investigation is underway and that some communication channels, such as email and workstations, are “partially limited,” with temporary “information points” set up for students to provide information accessible through digital systems and databases that are currently unavailable.
Through AP and beepcomputer
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