Cyberattacks, Tajani and Italian institutions have been targeted by Noname057(16) for years: the precedents

The pro-Russian hacker group 'Noname057(16)' - which placed the 'bounty' on the sensitive data of 18 people, including the minister Antonio Tajani and the chief prosecutor of Rome Francesco Lo Voi - is no stranger to targeting Italian institutions, such as the Farnesina, and the Foreign Minister himself.

The first massive attack dates back to February 2023, shortly after the visit of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Kiev. In its debut against Italy, the hackers hit the sites of several ministries and institutions, including Transport, Defense and the Armed Forces.

In February 2024, a new wave of cyber-attacks against Italian sites while in June, on the day of voting for the European Parliament elections, hackers announced attacks on the internet infrastructures of various European countries, including Italy. In December the websites of Malpensa and Linate ended up in the crosshairs.

It was a few days later that the first blockade occurred at the Farnesina, in a cyber offensive which, in addition to foreign affairs, affected various Italian ministries, institutions and companies: Infrastructure and Transport, Consob, Carabinieri, Navy, Air Force, as well as local public transport companies such as Atac in Rome, Amat in Palermo, Amt in Genoa. In announcing their raid, the hackers criticized Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and "her continued full support for Ukraine."

In February 2025, the websites of Italian banks and transport companies were once again under attack in response to the "Russophobic" (so the hackers said) President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

In February 2026, a new wave of hacker attacks aimed at sites linked to the Milan Cortina Olympics. Shortly after, the group again targeted Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on its Telegram channel, publishing the complaint made by the deputy prime minister regarding the attack on Italian embassy sites and Olympic hotels.

Finally, last month, in October, the Farnesina website came under attack. An IT blitz which occurred more or less after the attack by the spokesperson of the Moscow Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who defined as "unhealthy" and "disrespectful" towards Italians the recent warnings of the head of our diplomacy Antonio Tajani on the risk of Russian interference in the next parliamentary elections in Italy.