Postal Police: employee of Lamezia Terme Airport reported

He used SACAL's facilities to "mine" cryptocurrencies

The Postal Police of Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro denounced an employee of the Calabrese Airport Company who used the SACAL facilities to "extract" cryptocurrencies.

The man, attracted by the mirage of the earnings offered by the new opportunities of information technology, had taken advantage of his job position within the airport of Lamezia Terme, to install a malware and exploit the IT infrastructure of SACAL spa, which manages the Calabrian airports to "extract" or produce virtual currency, endangering the security of the critical infrastructure.

This is what emerged from the investigations against a technician in charge of the computerized infrastructure of the Lamezia Terme airport, who had started the illegal business thinking of going unnoticed.

The technicians of the SACAL, the company that manages the airport, alarmed by some anomalies on the IT systems of the airport technological network, immediately informed the Border Police, which requested the intervention of the Postal Police experts.

The investigators, with the collaboration of the airport authorities, thoroughly analyzed the partitions of the IT network inside the airport hub, discovering the presence, in two different technical rooms, of a real "MINING FARM", or an illegal network composed by as many as five powerful electronic processors, called "Mining RIG", a term used to indicate in technical jargon the systems used to create bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies, connected to the external Internet network through systems dedicated to the management of airport services and powered by the supply of electricity to the Airport.

This architecture allowed the user of the system integrated with the airport network to procure the "Ethereum" cryptocurrency, produced without incurring the huge costs of electricity necessary for the 24-hour operation of the equipment and exploiting the connectivity provided by the SACAL info-telematic systems , compromising safety and exposing airport management systems.

Upon the outcome of the initial investigations, the staff of the Specialty informed the Public Prosecutor's Office of Lamezia Terme, which immediately coordinated a complex and meticulous investigation of a technical-IT and traditional type.

In fact, if on the one hand the technical activities made it possible to examine the IP addresses associated with the installed machines, to identify the site of the "Ethermine" Pool (used to mine Ethereum cryptocurrency), and to carry out careful monitoring of the site and technological infrastructure, on the other hand targeted services of stalking and observation were immediately launched, also carried out through cameras specially installed in the places concerned, which allowed investigators to identify the 41-year-old SACAL employee.

 The timely intervention of the operators made it possible to prevent the risks for the safety of the airport infrastructure, providing for the uninstallation of the illegal systems, placed under seizure and therefore the restoration of the operating conditions of the systems and the safety of the airport services.

The present case is representative of a growing phenomenon, with the advent of virtual currency, in fact, attacks by cybercriminals have multiplied who, in any way, try to fraudulently withdraw energy or exploit the computing power of the computer systems of large industries. , power plants or, as in this case, airports, for the operation of the computers intended to extract crypto currency, through actions that seriously endanger the safety and functioning of the affected industrial complexes.

The Lametine Judicial Authority, which validated the seizure of all electronic equipment illegally installed in the airport systems, arranged further investigations to ascertain the possible involvement of other subjects.

Postal Police: employee of Lamezia Terme Airport reported