European ransomware attacks target 2-year-old computer bug, say cybersecurity agencies amid Internet outage
Cybersecurity agencies in Europe are warning of ransomware attacks that exploit a two-year-old computer bug when Italy experienced widespread network outages.
The Italian prime minister’s office said on Sunday evening that the attacks affecting computer systems in the country were linked to “already circulating ransomware” in a product made by a public supplier. cloud technology VMware produces.
A technical bulletin on Friday from a French cybersecurity agency said the attack campaigns targeted VMware ESXi hypervisors, which are used to monitor virtual machines.
Palo Alto, California-based VMware fixed this in February 2021 but the attacks targeted older, unpatched versions of the product.
The company said in a statement on Sunday that its customers should take action to apply the patch if they have not already done so.
“Security hygiene is a key component in preventing ransomware attacks,” it said.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Sunday that it is “working with our public and private sector partners to assess the impact of reported incidents.” this and provide support when needed.”
The incident attracted particular public attention in Italy on Sunday because it coincided with a nationwide internet outage affecting telecom operator Telecom Italia, which has hampered the development of the Internet. online football match Spezia v. Napoli but appeared to have been largely settled by the time of the subsequent Derby della Madonnina between Inter Milan and AC Milan. It’s unclear if the outage is related to ransomware attacks.
