Organisations around the world have been urged to protect their IT systems immediately after thousands of computer servers were hacked.
The warning, from Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency, followed a “massive” ransomware attack that compromised computers across the globe. Agency director-general Roberto Baldoni said the hackers sought to exploit a “software vulnerability”.
Servers using VMware ‘ESXi’ software, which runs virtual computers, has been targeted in Canada, Finland, France, Germany and the US, the agency added, with dozens of Italian organisations likely to have been affected.
The hackers were taking advantage of a software exploit first identified in February 2021, according to a statement by the Italian government. It added that “no evidence had emerged pointing to aggression by a state of hostile state-like entity” and the attack was probably the handiwork of criminals.
