Italy thwarted several Russian cyberattacks aimed at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, enhancing security measures ahead of the opening ceremony, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday, according to LETA citing AFP.
The attacks targeted "the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, starting from Washington, as well as some Olympic venues, including hotels in Cortina d'Ampezzo," the minister stated during his visit to Washington.
According to a representative of Tajani, the attacks affected about 120 websites, including the Italian embassy in Washington, but they were "effectively neutralized."
"We do not comment on security matters — the best practice is to not discuss them," said Mark Adams, the communications director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to reporters.
The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Russian hacker group "Noname057," stating that it was a reaction to the Italian government's support for Ukraine.
"The pro-Ukrainian course of the Italian government leads to the support of Ukrainian terrorists being punished by our DDoS shells on websites," the statement said in a Telegram channel associated with this group.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is a malicious attempt to disrupt the operation of a network, system, or website by overwhelming it with requests from multiple sources.
The group claimed to have attacked the websites of several hotels in Cortina d'Ampezzo — one of the cities where this year's Winter Olympics will take place. The games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo will be held from February 6 to 22.
Italy has deployed about 6,000 police officers and around 2,000 military personnel at Olympic venues — from Milan to the Dolomite Alps. Among them are sappers, snipers, counter-terrorism units, and ski resort police.
The Ministry of Defense has also allocated 170 vehicles, radars, and drones.
Security measures are particularly focused on Milan, where political leaders, including U.S. Vice President James David Vance, will be present at the opening ceremony of the Games on Friday.
