The numerous attacks by hackers, which in 2021 tested the networks of public and private computer systems, have raised the level of attention (in our country and beyond).
Since last February 24, then, when the war between Russia and Ukraine has also shown its technological side (with hackers deployed on both sides), every problem at institutional sites – or in any case of large companies – raises the antennas.
We are writing these words exactly at 2:50 pm on April 6, and the website of the Ministry of Ecological Transition is still unreachable.over an hour and a half after reporting the problem.
The Mite website is down, and the related minister Roberto Cingolani immediately explained the reason. The situation is constantly updated. Let’s see how much we know so far.
The site of the Mite is down
The site of the Mite is therefore down from the very early afternoon of Wednesday 6 April.
Interviewed by Radio Rai, Minister Roberto Cingolani promptly intervened on what happened, explaining that it was a preventive measure.
Minister Roberto Cingolani
The words of Roberto Cingolani
Here is what Minister Cingolani said to the microphones of Radio1’s Sportello Italia Recovery broadcast. “Safety is the number one priority. As I speak to you, in addition to energy security, I can tell you that we have external threats detected on the Ministry’s IT network and as a precaution we had to suspend the operation of all the Ministry’s IT systems. So safety is the first parameter to keep in mind, energy security and more. “
Threats of Russian hackers?
The minister’s words are therefore ambivalent. It is good that the down to the Mite site was caused by a preventive action, but external threats are worrying. A direct question was therefore addressed to Roberto Cingolani, namely whether the attack he sent for cover was carried out by Russian hackers.
And Cingolani’s response suggests that we will know more in the next few hours. In fact, the minister said: “It is impossible to answer at this moment, there are the structures in charge that are working. But in this moment, safety must be the goal of all Italians ”.
So far, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has not given further information to the colleagues who have requested it.
The expert’s comment
Rainews.it contacted Pierluigi Paganini, member of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Cyber Threat Landscapes of Enisa (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity).
Paganini stated that “in these cases we must carefully weigh the statements provided, not having technical details on the possible attack.”
And he added that “the Minister’s words are eloquent, he refers to a threat detected within the network of the ministry. The suspension of services is functional to prevent the threat from spreading and allow internal technical staff to investigate any violation and eradicate the malicious agent.
At the moment it is impossible to hypothesize whether there has been compromise of some system containing sensitive information nor to understand if there has been data exfiltration. Furthermore, the investigations will hopefully allow the attribution of the attack to at least one category of attackers “.
Finally, Paganini did not want to say who might have carried out the attack on the site of the Mite.
The site of the Mite down. And not only
It is not only the site of the Ministry of Ecological Transition that is unreachable. But also the portals connected to it, such as the SIF Web, an information system to support the choice of phytosanitary substances for the defense of agricultural crops.
Il Mite after Sogei
The attack on the Mite site follows a few days after the computer blockade of Sogei, which – albeit due to technical problems – has put various sites in crisis for hours, including that of the Revenue Agency and the Customs Agency and monopolies.
While we await clarification from the Ministry of Ecological Transition on what has happened, we recall that when Minister Cingolani insisted on security as “number one priority” he was referring not only to information technology.
Indeed, his recent critical words regarding Italy’s dependence on Russian gas. And it is from him the announcement that alternative supplies will soon arrive.