EUROVISION – Would Russia have wanted to destabilize Eurovision? According to the Italian authorities, the European singing competition was targeted by several cyberattacks by Russian hackers during the semi-final on Tuesday May 10 and then during the final on Saturday May 14 which took place in Turin .
“The hackers tried to infiltrate, but the activation of a 24-hour operations room dedicated to the event with the staff of the National Center for the Fight against Cyberattacks of the Post and Communications Police allowed to neutralize and repel attacks,” the Italian National Police wrote on Twitter.
The British news agency Reuters explains that the police allegedly blocked several attacks carried out by the group “Killnet” and an affiliated group called “Legion” during the performances of the artists and during the votes. The authorities also gathered information from the Telegram group of hackers to try to locate them.
On Wednesday, May 11, “Killnet” had already claimed an attack on encrypted messaging against several Italian institutions, including the Senate and the National Institute of Health, also reports the Italian agency ANSA.
Despite Russia’s attempted intervention, Ukraine largely won the 66th edition of the competition with the band Kalush Orchestra and their title Stefania . The British Sam Ryder follows with SPACE MAN and the Spanish Chanel, with SloMo.