The worst cyberattack in Italy's history may have been caused by domestic work

It is a cyber attack that affects millions of people in the Italian capital region of Lazio, with Rome at the center.

It started on Sunday night and has paralyzed the region's internal computer system.

Vaccine bookings stopped

Specialists work around the clock to try to regain control of the systems, especially those related to healthcare.

Several systems at the highest level are blocked.

All covid vaccine bookings are down and it is seen as particularly serious.

"Exposed to digital terrorism"

Precisely in view of this, it has been speculated in the Italian media that it may be a novax attack and not just a cyber attack where the perpetrators want big money.

There is conflicting information as to whether a ransom was demanded from the hackers to unblock the information that is now locked.

- The situation is very serious, says the region's governor Nicola Zingaretti and does not hesitate when he says:

- We are exposed to digital terrorism and it is extremely bad but we will not negotiate with any hackers.

According to Italian media, technical managers and senior EU leaders are following developments and taking them very seriously.

Home workers were hacked

Polizia Postale, which is investigating the attack, states that it was an employee living in Frosinone outside Rome who was hacked while working from home.

This in turn raises a debate on the issue of homework and computer security.

The hackers came across the employee's password to his vpn client, which provides access to internal systems even outside the workplace.

The hackers were then able to plant a kind of Trojan horse, a software called Emotet and is considered to be one of the world's most harmful.

After that, it was able to hack deeper and deeper into the region of Lazio's systems and take control of them.

Concerns about safety

A weakness in the system is that two-way authentication with a text message with a confirmation code or similar, in addition to a password, should not have been required.

The fact that this could have led to the worst cyber attack in the country's history raises concerns and debate about how vulnerable computer systems often are, even when it comes to vital areas such as healthcare. All the while the work to regain control continues in a battle against the clock.