The pc techniques of La Sapienza in Rome, one of many largest universities in Europe with round 120,000 students, have been down for 3 days following an obvious ransomware assault.
In a post and stories on Instagram printed Tuesday, the college stated that it took down its techniques out of precaution following the cyberattack, that it was investigating the incident and dealing on restoring all digital providers, and that some communication channels similar to e mail and workstations are “partially restricted.”
The varsity additionally stated that it was working to revive techniques based mostly on backups, which weren’t affected by the hack.
As of this writing the Sapienza web site stays down.
Italian day by day information outlet Il Corriere della Sera reported this week that the disruption is because of a ransomware assault, one thing that the varsity nor different authorities have confirmed up to now. The hackers allegedly despatched the college a hyperlink to a request for a ransom, which has a countdown of 72 hours, which might begin solely as soon as the hyperlink is clicked.
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Do you may have extra details about this assault, or the Femwar02 ransomware gang? From a non-work machine, you possibly can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Sign at +1 917 257 1382, or through Telegram, Keybase and Wire @lorenzofb, or email.
La Sapieza didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark despatched through e mail. It’s unclear if the college is ready to settle for e mail on the time we reached out.
Spokespeople for Italy’s nationwide cybersecurity company, Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale (or ACN), which is investigating the incident, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, asking for extra data and if the assault was brought on by ransomware.
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In one other article on Wednesday, Il Corriere reported that the hacking group behind the assault known as “Femwar02,” which was beforehand unknown previous to this incident. The gang used the BabLock malware, which was discovered in 2023 and is often known as Rorschach, in accordance with the report.
La Sapienza stated that exams are continuing as regular, however college students who need to join exams should achieve this instantly with professors. The varsity additionally arrange “infopoints” on a number of places on campus to supply data to college students.
Like different kinds of organizations, universities and faculties are frequent targets of hackers. Final 12 months, the infamous hacking group ShinyHunters hacked Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania and stole information — with out utilizing malware to encrypt its techniques — in an effort to extort the colleges. The hackers revealed this week that the colleges didn’t pay the ransom.
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