Or, how COVID made digital ignorance visible AGAIN.

This has been a wonderful summer for italian sport, and still is. Between the European soccer championship, the Olympics and now the Paralympics, we are doing really well, gaining medals and setting records as very seldom before.

That’s great, also because it partly compensates a couple of records for… ICT-related imbecility, reported here as permanent warnings for all other countries.

All your Green Passes are belong to us

The “Green Pass” is (simplifying!) the certificate stating that one is not a COVID-19 spreader. Its validity goes from two days for a negative tampon, to at least six months for a full vaccine treatment, and citizens can download it in PDF or QR format from the websites of the public healthcare system, that is national, but managed separately in each region. It works… except when someone is… not ready yet to be left alone with digital devices.

Record one: no green passes in Lazio**

The website and some vital databases of the healthcare system of the Lazio region (the one where Rome is) were pwned, that is taken as hostage by cybercriminals.

This caused a still undefined data breach, and made it impossible for several days, for many residents of Lazio, to get the Green Pass they urgently needed to work or go on vacation. And it all happened, it seems, because ONE employee visited the “wrong” websites with his work laptop.

Record two: no green passes for idiots

This is actually good, because, unlike the first record of cluelessness, it only hit people who really, seriously deserved it.

Many people, mainly but not esclusively anti vaxxers, could not get the long term Green Pass. So they went to Telegram, where some much smarter guys:

• promised to give a fake Green Pass to anybody who would send them 300 Euros, plus copies of their IDs, SSN and healthcare card
• unsurprisingly, never gave a usable Green Pass to anybody, and
• (here comes the best part) when some moron complained, threatening to denounce the scammers to the police, replied:

Excuse me? YOU knowingly did something illegal and harmful for the public health, and now you expect the police not come after you too if you file a denounce? Nah, this is what we’ll do instead: send us 350 Euros in bitcoins NOW, or WE will send your data, documents and proof of your payments to the police

Don’t let anything like this happen anywhere near you.

Image source: Imgflip and “Unforgettable summer for italian sport, from London to Tokyo