Italian police say they have arrested two suspects, a brother-and-sister team, for trying to hack the personal email accounts of leading public figures, including reportedly those of former premier Matteo Renzi and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.
The police said Tuesday that, with the help of the FBI, they cracked a "cyberespionage headquarters" that for years had attempted to hack, sometimes successfully, into 18,000 accounts at the expense of "institutions and public administration, professional studios, political personalities and industrialists of national renown."
The police arrested on Monday a nuclear engineer, 44, and his 49-year-old sister, adding that they live in London but also have official residency in Rome, "where they are well known in the world of Roman high finance."
Italian news agency ANSA, citing documents from investigators seeking arrest warrants, identified the suspects as Giulio Occhionero and Francesca Maria Occhionero.
There were reportedly two attempts to hack into Renzi's personal email, in June last year, and into Draghi's email account once in June and once in July. A person familiar with the matter said that there was no indication any ECB account was successfully breached. The person spoke only on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
The ANSA agency said the hacking attacks had also targeted former Italian economy minister Fabrizio Saccomanni, an Italian cardinal, two top officials of the Italian tax police squad as well as several Italian politicians from both center-left, center-right and right-wing parties.
In all, the suspects allegedly obtained some 18,000 usernames and nearly 1,800 passwords.
A LinkedIn profile and a now-defunct personal website in Giulio Occhionero's name identify him as a quantitative analyst and computer expert with an interest in mathematics, finance, and options trading. The LinkedIn profile also identifies Occhionero as the co-founder of Westlands Securities SpA, described on the professional networking site as a banking start-up and private equity firm. A LinkedIn profile in the name of Occhionero's sister, Francesca Maria, identifies her as the firm's former managing director.
Contact information for the pair in London could not be immediately be located. An email sent to Giulio Occhionero's personal address was not immediately returned; a LinkedIn message left with Francesca Maria was also not returned.
Italian Postal Police Director Roberto Di Legami said the cyberspying operation came to investigators' attention when someone sent them an email infected by what was "very complex malware technology." The malware was able to infiltrate emails and other communications, as well as documents stored locally on computers.
The hackers launched cyberattacks known as advanced persistent threat, in which a hacker gains access to a network for a long period of time. They were able to acquire information remotely and remove "massive" amounts of content on the targeted computers, police said.
Investigators are still analyzing "an enormous mound of sequestered material" in the United States, police said.
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