Italy’s cybersecurity body sounds alarm on large-scale computer hacking attack

Italy's National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) said on 5 February issued warning to organisations to take action to protect their systems after thousands of computer servers around the world have been targeted by a ransomware hacking attack.

ACN director general Roberto Baldoni said that the hacking attack sought to exploit a software vulnerability, adding it was on a massive scale.

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Earlier, Italy's ANSA news agency reported that servers had been compromised in other European countries such as France and Finland as well as the United States and Canada.

As per reports, dozens of Italian organisations were likely to have been affected and many more had been warned to take action to avoid being locked out of their systems.

On Sunday, teTelecom Italia customers reported internet problems, however, the two issues were not believed to be related. Meanwhile, U.S. cybersecurity officials said they were assessing the impact of the reported incidents.

"CISA is working with our public and private sector partners to assess the impacts of these reported incidents and providing assistance where needed," the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said.

With Reuters inputs.