Russian Hackers Target Italian Banks' Websites

Italy has witnessed a series of cyberattacks on the websites of five of its banks, resulting in certain services becoming inaccessible. 

This information comes from Reuters, citing the Italian cybersecurity agency.

"The agency has detected the reactivation of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack campaigns by pro-Russian cybercriminal groups against national institutional entities," the statement said.

According to a representative of the Italian agency, hackers launched DDoS attacks on the websites of Intesa Sanpaolo, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, BPER Banca, FinecoBank, and Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

A source within one of the banks revealed that their website was temporarily disabled due to intense traffic, although this disruption was short-lived, and their mobile application continued to function.

In July, Russian hackers from the group Noname057 attacked the Bulgarian parliament's website in support of Ukraine. This attack was prompted by Bulgaria's intention to transfer a batch of 100 armored vehicles to Ukraine.

As reported by The Gaze, Switzerland experienced a series of powerful cyberattacks by Russian cybercriminals over three consecutive days, starting from June 12. The attacks aimed to disable certain government websites in Switzerland, including the Geneva airport's site.

The Russian hacker group NoName claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack on government websites, including the website of the Swiss Parliament and federal administration.

The Swiss National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) reported that the attacks were "extremely intense." Experts warned users that some government websites might be unavailable.

The NoName group stated that they targeted Switzerland in response to the EU's imposition of another round of sanctions against Russia. These sanctions were introduced to limit Russia's ability to continue its violent, expansionist, and unwarranted war on Ukrainian territory.

Additionally, The Gaze reported that British Airways, Boots, and the BBC fell victim to a cyberattack by Russian cybercriminals using the Clop group. The Russian hackers issued an ultimatum, demanding negotiations for ransom after stealing data from about 100,000 employees of these companies.

The Clop organization demanded that the targeted companies agree to negotiations via email. Otherwise, the hackers threatened to publish the names, addresses, national insurance numbers, and banking details of their victims on the internet. However, the ransom amount was not specified in the message.