Both the FBI and Europol are working with the Italian police as they probe into the weekend’s cyberattack on Lazio region’s IT systems.
The region’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been hit by the cyberattack, which was launched on Sunday from abroad, sources said. As a result, bookings for jabs have stopped.
Regional Health Chief Alessio D’Amato said Tuesday that vaccine bookings should resume “within 72 hours”.
Two-prong investigation
Rome prosecutors have two pools of investigations probe into the case. One specialises in terrorism, the other in IT crimes.
Governor Nicola Zingaretti said on Monday that Lazio was the victim of a “terrorist” attack on its IT systems.
“At the moment we are defending our community from these attacks of a terrorist nature,” Zingaretti said. “Lazio is the victim of a criminal offensive, the most serious that has ever occurred on the (Italian) national territory. The attacks are still taking place. The situation is very serious”.
The attack happened by hackers breaching the account of a regional employee.
On Tuesday, a European Commission spokesperson said the EU executive saw the cyberattack on Lazio’s IT systems as a major problem.
“We saw the news of the cyberattacks on the health portal and vaccination network of the Lazio region,” the spokesperson said. “The European Commission is taking the issue very seriously”.
Pre-booked vaccinations continue
D’Amato stressed vaccination was continuing despite the attack. People already booked before the attack happened were receiving their jabs.
D’Amato also stressed the attack would not stop people being issued with the Green Pass vaccine passport after jabs.
