National entities have been alerted about the possibility of high-risk distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, based on a recent advisory from the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) in Italy.
DDoS attacks usually cause severe damage, service outage, and operational disruptions to businesses and organisations. The Italian agency continually detected signs and threats of cyberattacks against national public entities, private firms that provide public utility services, and private firms identified as Italian-backed.
The advisory also pointed to the signs given by the hacktivist gang Killnet, which posted on their Telegram channel about massive and unprecedented attacks on Italy.
The hacktivist gang had recently launched a DDoS attack against the country via the Slow HTTP method.
CSIRT Italy recommended defensive measures against such attacks and has also included guidance on effectively protecting an organisation against cyberattack threats.
In related news, the Killnet hacktivist gang had recently announced an operation called ‘Operation Panopticon’ that called for thousands of volunteers for 72 hours to deal with service disruptions from DDoS attacks.
With DDoS being the main objective, the cyber volunteers who would like to participate in the gang’s operation are sent with a sign-up form to fill in, asking about their age, location, system, and Telegram account. They would also be provided with appropriate tools for launching resource-depletion attacks against adversaries.
The hacktivist gang also explained their operation name – Panopticon – which means “a space in which everything is visible,” giving warning to the Italian law enforcement. They have aimed their attacks against Italy this time as a part of their massive campaign to back Russia to counterattack countries that are supportive of Ukraine.
Due to this operation, the Anonymous gang based in Italy is forced to strike Killnet with cyberattacks and dox some gang members by publishing their photos on various social media platforms.
A seemingly endless throwing of cyberattacks is detected by security experts worldwide following the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Organisations and entities affected by cyber warfare are warned to stay alert and safeguard their networks.
