Italy plans crackdown on database hacks

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is planning a crackdown on cybercrime, according to a draft decree seen by Reuters on Thursday, after recent cases of alleged hacking into major state and financial databases prompted a swift response from the government. 

 

The draft decree calls for the arrest of people caught "illegally accessing a computer or telematic system ... deemed to be of military interest or related to public order or public safety or health or civil protection."

 

Rome’s cabinet will discuss the proposed legislation on Nov. 25, the office of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.

 

The legislation would also strengthen the powers of the chief anti-mafia prosecutor, who will coordinate all investigations into extortions resulting from unauthorised access to a computer system or fraudulent telematic wiretaps. 

 

Italian police placed four people under house arrest last month as part of a probe into alleged illegal access of state databases, and are investigating dozens, including Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, son of the late billionaire founder of Luxottica, Reuters reported.

 

A lawyer for Del Vecchio said at the time that he had nothing to do with the events being probed. 

 

Prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Bari are also investigating an alleged data breach at the country’s biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo, in which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s account may have been accessed.

 

 (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante. Editing by Mark Potter)