Hackers shut down online booking system for COVID-19 shots in Italy’s Lazio region

Hackers shut down online electronic appointment booking system for COVID-19 shots in Italy’s Lazio region.

Hackers have attacked and managed to shut down the IT systems of the company that manages COVID-19 vaccination appointments for the Lazio region surrounding Rome, the regional government said on Sunday, August 1.

“A powerful hacker attack on the region’s CED (database) is underway,” the region said in a Facebook posting. “It is a very powerful hacker attack, very serious… everything is out. The whole regional CED is under attack,” Lazio region’s health manager Alessio D’Amato said.

D’Amato said all systems had been bought to a standstill, including those of the region’s health portal and vaccination network, and warned the inoculation programme could now suffer serious delays.

According to ANSA, Italy’s postal police and Rome prosecutors are looking into the matter and are opening an investigation to find out who is behind the attack.

Italy recently followed France in announcing that proof of vaccination or immunity from COVID-19 would become mandatory for an array of activities.

The move triggered a series of protests across the country against the introduction of the so-called Green Pass which shows people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from COVID-19.

Related:

Patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 1,954 on Sunday, August 1, up from 1,851 a day earlier.

There were 22 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 25 on Saturday, and the total number of intensive care patients increased to 230 from a previous 214, Reuters reports.

Some 167,761 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, up from a previous 264,860, the health ministry said.

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