The site in Lazio, the region of Rome, was attacked by hackers who made it unavailable to users, including those wanting to reserve a vaccine against Covid, the region announced on Sunday (August 1) on its Twitter account.
“
A hacker attack is underway [...].
All defense and verification operations are in progress to avoid the prolongation of the cut-off of services
""
The operations concerning vaccinations may suffer slowdowns
", adds the region, apologizing to users.
To discover
Covid-19: what we know about the Delta variant
The region's official website, www.regione.lazio.it, was unavailable Sunday morning, AFP reported.
The site for reserving a vaccine was also not available.
Read also: Covid-19: new "targeted" attack against a vaccination center, the third in 3 days
No ransom requested at this time
According to sources involved in this affair and quoted on Sunday by the AGI agency, the site in the Rome region was attacked by "
ransomware
".
This type of fraud consists of breaking into an entity's networks to encrypt its data, then demanding a ransom, most often in bitcoins, in exchange for the decryption key.
According to AGI sources, however, no ransom has been demanded for the moment.
It is this kind of cyberattack that has targeted several large American companies in recent months.
According to AGI sources, this is the largest computer attack against an institutional site in Italy.
In mid-June, the Italian government decided to set up a government agency specializing in cybersecurity to fight against the proliferation of computer attacks and be able to face the Russian threat in particular.
Read also: In Italy, caregivers have the choice between the vaccine or the layoff
66% of the vaccinated population
Lazio, where the Delta variant is preponderant with about 80% of new cases of Covid-19, has vaccinated 66% of the adult population, announced two days ago the
regional
"
Minister
" of Health Alessio D'Amato.
Nationally, 60% of the population over 12 years of age, more than 32 million people, has completed vaccination and a total of 68.5 million doses of vaccines have been administered to Italians, the ministry website said on Sunday. of Health.
