Italy’s electricity system regulator attacked with ransomware

BlackCat, also known as ALPHV, emerged in mid-November last year and is known for conducting sophisticated cyberattacks against companies across the US and Europe. On September 2, the group announced it had downloaded 700 gigabytes of data from the GSE, including information on projects, contracts and accounting, and posted images of documents stolen from the attack. network.

GSE is 100% state-owned, with the task of providing services to the electricity market, promoting and developing renewable energy. Currently, GSE declined to comment on this information. Previously, the company said the cyberattack took place from August 28 to August 29.

Talking to the press, expert Ryan Olson of the cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks said that BlackCat often targets organizations in the energy industry. On a dark web, BlackCat posted data of 12 victims in June, 26 victims in July-July and two victims in August.

Walter Ruffinoni, CEO of NTT Data Italia, said the average recovery cost from a ransomware attack is estimated at $1.85 million. According to Ruffinoni, in Italy, this phenomenon has increased by 350% in the last year, when 1.9% of Italian companies suffered an attack of this type every week.

Last month, hackers also attacked the computer network of Italy’s Eni energy group, although the company said the incident did not cause major consequences.