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A spectator watches the ESC final with the winners, the Kalush Orchestra, on his mobile phone
Photo: STEPAN FRANKO / EPA
The Eurovision Song Contest has never been as politically charged as this year.
This is reflected not only in Ukraine's victory, but also in a hacker attack that was foiled: the Italian police say they prevented attacks on the final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Turin.
The hackers tried to penetrate the systems on the opening night on Tuesday and during the final from Saturday to Sunday, the police said in Turin.
Internet crime experts have attributed the attacks to the Russian hacker group Killnet.
There had been rumors before that Russian cybercriminals wanted to disrupt the politically charged Grand Prix with attacks.
The police also registered so-called Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks during the vote.
Hackers try to paralyze a system with a flood of requests.
Russia was excluded from this year's 66th edition of the ESC because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
On the night of Sunday, Ukraine secured a clear victory with the Kalush Orchestra (»Stefania«) from Great Britain (Sam Ryder with »Space Man«) and Spain (Chanel with »SloMo«).
Germany with Malik Harris (»Rockstars«) landed in 25th place and was last.
kha/dpa