Specifically, using a simple SQL injection attack, Kapustkiy gained access to the database and stole data from 45,000 users, including login credentials for services operated by Italian cities.
Kapustkiy decided to publish part of the data he stole on Pastebin, saying that he decided to leak only 9,000 of the entries so that the Italian authorities would have time to fix the security flaw.
What's worse is that Italian officials have so far ignored the hacker 's messages , who had repeatedly tried to contact the website's administrators to inform them of the breach, but received absolutely no response to any of his messages.
«I received no response from them. I hope they will examine the database after this breach and improve their security», said Kapostkiy.
The Italian Ministry has not provided further information regarding the breach, and as of the time of publishing this article no response or official statement has been released.
Kapustkiy has been particularly busy lately, having managed to break into other government websites around the world. He also hacked sites belonging to Indian Embassies in Switzerland, Mali, Romania, Italy, Malawi and Libya, stealing database information that contained thousands of users' details, including names, phone numbers and emails.
The Indian government issued a public statement to “thank” the hacker for exposing vulnerabilities on its websites, acknowledging that the country must do more work to prevent attacks.
«Thank you for your advice», said Sanjay Kumar Verma, Secretary of Governance and IT. «We are fixing security gaps, one by one. Your help in investigating the websites of the Indian Embassies is important».
We will have to see if the Italian government issues any similar statement, but judging by the lack of response so far, such a thing is very unlikely.
