Italian university hit by major cyberattack, systems offline for days
What's the story
La Sapienza University in Rome, one of the largest universities in Europe with some 120,000 students, has been hit by a major cyberattack. The university's computer systems have been down for three days now. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, La Sapienza revealed that it had taken its systems offline as a precautionary measure after the incident.
Recovery efforts
La Sapienza is investigating the incident
The university is currently investigating the incident and working on restoring all digital services. It said that some communication channels like email and workstations are "partially limited." The school also revealed that it was working to restore systems from backups, which were not affected by the hack. However, as of now, the La Sapienza website remains down.
Attack details
Attackers sent a link with ransom demand
Italian daily news outlet Il Corriere della Sera has reported that the disruption at La Sapienza is due to a ransomware attack. The hackers allegedly sent the university a link to a ransom demand, with a 72-hour countdown that would start only after the link is clicked. However, neither the school nor other authorities have confirmed this yet.
Hacker identity
Hackers used BabLock malware
The hacking group behind the attack on La Sapienza is called "Femwar02," a name that was previously unknown. They used the BabLock malware, discovered in 2023 and also known as Rorschach. The university has confirmed that exams are proceeding as normal but students wishing to sign up for exams must do so directly with professors.