Italy is soon to have its own cyber-crime unit prompted by rising concerns over a possible terrorist attack, a top police official said Thursday.

At a conference here on communications security Domenico Palumbo said the national unit, which will be operational by the end of the year, will help prevent attacks on key infrastructure targets such as energy generators, water supplies, telecommunications and banks.

"It's increasingly likely that terrorists will be able to strike a country by attacking one of these critical infrastructures through online systems," Palumbo said.

"And any online attack could be combined with a physical attack, such as a bomb, to increase its impact."

Other speakers highlighted that terrorists weren't the only criminals exploiting the Internet

"Mafia groups already have trained computer experts who hack other systems, and send out spam and viruses," said Italy's assistant national anti-mafia prosecutor, Carlo Visconti.

"For example, the Mydoom virus spread last year, which cost 400,000 dollars, appears to have been the work of the Russian mafia rather than just simple computer thugs."

Organized crime in Italy had already branched out into cyber-extortion, hacking into a major company's networks and then demanding cash not to make the information public, he added.


Source : XinhuaNet