The computer systems of Italian Chamber of Deputies have been targeted in a large-scale cyberattack, during which hackers gained access to several parliamentary email accounts, including that of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to ANSA.
The Italian Parliament's technical services and the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) promptly detected the incident and implemented protective measures, including temporarily disabling certain vulnerable IT system functions in accordance with specific security protocols.
Sources at Palazzo Chigi, the seat of the Italian government, stressed that the compromised account belonging to the Prime Minister was not used for official government correspondence or classified state communications. As a result, they said, there was no risk of sensitive government information being leaked.
Representatives of Montecitorio, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, noted that cyberattacks and attempts to disrupt the infrastructure of government institutions occur regularly. However, they emphasised that the situation remains fully under the technical control of specialists.
The incident in Rome comes amid a broader increase in cyberattacks targeting national government agencies and European institutions in recent days.
Italian authorities are continuing their investigation to identify the source of the attack and those potentially responsible for commissioning it.
Cybersecurity experts have pointed to growing hybrid threats and attempts at digital espionage by external actors targeting European Union and NATO member states.
