Everest's pro-Russian trail for the hacker attack on Brenner

Strategic infrastructural hubs, especially in terms of trade and logistics, such as the Brenner tunnel, but also dissemination of the personal data of institutional representatives on the dark web by pro-Russian hackers and, of course, flight chaos. The fronts of hybrid warfare are multiplying. As the hours pass, security against cyber attacks becomes a priority issue for governments. The strategies implemented must operate at 360 degrees, with the aim of eliminating at best and containing at worst the impact on citizens and the civilian population.

The latest case is the one that involved Bbt Se: the European joint-stock company responsible for the design and construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel was the subject of a targeted cyber attack, which occurred on 17 October. The investigations were entrusted to the Bolzano Postal Police and are still ongoing. The attack would have involved data not accessible to the public, stolen by unauthorized parties via access to the internet.

Bbt Se added that the accident did not involve, and does not involve, any risk to the work in progress, and had no repercussions on the company's operational activities. As reported by the Austrian newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung, the group known as "Everest", attributable to the Russian-speaking cybercrime environment, would end up in the crosshairs of the investigators. It is an international extortion network specializing in data theft, threatening online publication, and demanding money in exchange for silence.

Then there is another line of investigation. After days of alarms that forced planes to deviate and delay, European secret services followed the Russian lead. According to the Financial Times, a cross-border investigation is underway to trace the origin of the reports: some intelligence officials consider Russia the most probable hypothesis, in light of the motive, the operating methods, the precedents and the first clues collected. Among the hypotheses being examined is the action of pro-Kremlin activists or hacker groups. However, attributing the threats to Moscow remains far from obvious.

Investigators warn that identifying those responsible could take a long time, without necessarily reaching a definitive conclusion. Meanwhile, the FBI also enters the network of information exchanges between police forces. It was the US investigative agency, according to the Portuguese Observador radio, that sent three alerts to the Lisbon police on Friday: one for the Lisbon-Rome Ryanair and two for TAP planes headed to Paris and Copenhagen.