Italy prevents pro-Russian hacker attacks during Eurovision

MILAN (Reuters) – Police thwarted hacker attacks by pro-Russian groups during the May 10 semi-finals and Saturday final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, authorities said on Sunday.

Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won the competition with its entry “Stefania,” riding a wave of popular support to claim an emotional victory welcomed by the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Read more

The police said that during the voting and the presentations, the police’s Cyber ​​Security Service prevented several cyber attacks on the network infrastructure by hacker group Killnet and its affiliate Legon.

The police also collected information from the pro-Russian group’s Telegram channels to prevent other critical events and geolocated the attacks.

On May 11, the Italian news agency ANSA reported that “Kilent” claimed an attack on the websites of several Italian institutions, including the Senate, the Italian Senate, and the National Institute of Health (ISS). Read more

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, many Western governments have raised alert levels in anticipation of potential cyber attacks on IT systems and infrastructure.

Russia routinely denies it conducts offensive cyber operations.

(Reporting by Gianluca Cimraro) Editing by Raisa Kasulowski and William MacLean

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