Italy’s national railway company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) was hit by a cyber attack on Wednesday. According to various carriers, freight transport by rail has been temporarily suspended and started again on Thursday afternoon.

Rail operator Metrans reported yesterday that all trains have been stopped since Wednesday afternoon “due to the attack on the IT systems of the Italian rail infrastructure”. Martin Koubek, Director Silk Road & CIS at Metrans, explains that it was temporarily not possible to cross the border at Austria and Slovenia.

“This morning we found elements on the computer network of Trenitalia and RFI that could be linked to a cryptolocker infection”, FS told Reuters news agency last Wednesday. Trentitalia is responsible for the operation of the trains in Italy. RFI, also part of FS, is the Italian rail manager.

Russian hackers

According to Reuters, the Italian news agency Ansa also suggests that it is the work of Russian hackers. However, Italy’s interior ministry declined to comment to Reuters on these claims.

Several carriers report stationary trains and delays. Marc Jansen, director of operations at carrier Hupac, says that the trains have been standing still for 24 hours. Train traffic resumed on Thursday, he said.

“Our trains to and from Italy have been standing still for about 15 hours. This has caused major delays that we will certainly notice until the weekend”, says Arno van Deursen, Country Manager Lineas NL & North Region and Director of Independent Rail Partner.

This article was originally published on Nieuwsblad Transport, authored by Simone van der Lee.