ROME, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Thousands of computer servers around the world have been the target of a ransomware hacking attack targeting VMware (VMW.N) ESXi servers, Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency said on Sunday. (ACN), warning organizations to take steps to protect their systems.
The hacking attack was aimed at exploiting a software vulnerability, ACN chief executive Roberto Baldoni told Reuters, adding that it was large in scale.
A VMware spokesperson said the company is aware of the incidents and has released patches for the two-year-old vulnerability that is being exploited in February 2021, urging customers to apply the patch if they don’t. haven’t done.
Italian news agency ANSA, citing ACN, reported that servers had been compromised in other European countries such as France and Finland, as well as in the United States and Canada.
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Dozens of Italian organizations were likely to have been affected and many more had been warned to take action to avoid being locked out of their systems.
Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) customers reported internet issues earlier on Sunday, but the two issues did not appear to be related.
US cybersecurity officials said they were assessing the impact of the reported incidents.
“CISA is working with our public and private sector partners to assess the impacts of these reported incidents and provide assistance as needed,” the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said.
Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Krystal Hu; Written by Keith Weir; Editing by Jan Harvey and Lisa Shumaker
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