On December 28, 2024, Italy’s Foreign Ministry and Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports experienced temporary website outages due to a cyberattack. The pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) claimed responsibility, citing retaliation against Italy’s perceived Russophobia.
The attack was identified as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault, which overwhelms networks with excessive traffic, rendering them inoperative. Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) responded promptly, mitigating the impact within two hours. Despite the website disruptions, flight operations at both airports remained unaffected, and their mobile applications continued to function normally.
NoName057(16) has a history of targeting institutions in NATO countries supporting Ukraine. This incident underscores the persistent cyber threats linked to geopolitical tensions and highlights the importance of robust cybersecurity measures to protect critical infrastructure.
