Italy blames pro-Russian hackers for leaking Tajani’s personal data

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has blamed pro-Russian hackers for posting the foreign minister’s personal data on the dark web. She said the sale of officials’ data was a grave concern, in a statement carried by ANSA on Saturday.

The minister, Antonio Tajani, said on X that the hackers had been spreading his data for days. He said they also wanted more facts about him and his family, and would pay for them.

He said Italy’s support for Ukraine was the reason he had been targeted.

“I will not be intimidated in any way,” Tajani wrote, in TNW’s translation.

Neither of them named a group. But the Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano said the data was posted by NoName057(16), a pro-Russian hacking group, according to LaPresse . TNW has not confirmed this.

NoName057(16) is best known for flooding websites with traffic to knock them offline. In May, Dutch police seized 800 servers linked to the group.

Other officials were also targeted, LaPresse reported. They include Rome’s chief prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, and Ivano Gabrielli, who heads Italy’s cyber police. Rome prosecutors are investigating, it added, citing Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Tajani wants hybrid attacks at the top of the agenda at a G7 meeting in Paris on Monday, Bloomberg reported , citing ANSA. The Kremlin did not respond to Bloomberg.