Italy’s foreign minister says buyers are offering cash for his family’s details as Meloni blames pro-Russian hackers

One of Europe’s most senior ministers says strangers are trying to buy information about his family.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is also deputy prime minister, said in a social media post on Saturday (European time) that cybercriminals had been publishing his personal data on the dark web for days. He said they were prepared to pay for further details on him and his loved ones, and that he had been exposed to threats and intimidation.

“I will not be intimidated in any way,” he said. He did not say what information had been posted.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded by expressing solidarity with Tajani over what she called the activities of pro-Russian hackers. She said attempts to sell confidential information about government officials were a matter of grave concern that had to be met with the utmost determination.

Why Tajani, and why now?

Tajani drew the line himself: he said Italy’s position on Ukraine was the political reason he had been targeted, and he restated the government’s support for Kyiv in the same post.

He also suggested the leak could be a response to work under way to harden the Foreign Ministry’s digital defences. The Foreign Ministry is treating the threats seriously and coordinating its response with allied countries.

What is different about this attack?

Leaks of officials’ data are not new. What stands out is the shift from publishing information to soliciting more of it, with money offered for details about a minister’s relatives. That moves the threat beyond embarrassment and towards the physical safety of a senior figure and his family, which is why Meloni framed it as a matter for firm action rather than a cyber nuisance.

Is it part of a wider pattern?

Tajani linked it to a run of incidents across Europe in recent weeks, including hoax bomb threats that forced flights to divert, security alerts at broadcasters, and attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems. VNN has reported on the wave of bomb threats against European flights and newsrooms in Ireland, Bulgaria and Britain.

Italy has not said that the same actors are behind those incidents, and no group has claimed the Tajani leak. The attribution to pro-Russian hackers comes from Meloni’s statement.

Why does it matter beyond Italy?

Italy is a G7 member and a firm backer of Ukraine. If personal data on its foreign minister can be traded openly, the same tactic could be turned on officials in any country that supports Kyiv, Australia included. The case is also a test of how quickly European states can trace and disrupt such markets.

It lands days before the first three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States since February, due in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 November, and at a time when European officials are insisting they will not accept a settlement negotiated without them.