Tajani Data Leak: Hackers Are Seeking More Details on Italy’s Foreign Minister and His Family

The Tajani data leak has pulled Italy’s foreign minister into the growing wave of cyber-pressure aimed at European governments. Antonio Tajani, who is also deputy prime minister, said on X that criminals have spent days publishing his personal information on the dark web while asking for more.

“For days now, cyber-criminals have been publishing my personal data on the dark web and seeking further information, effectively exposing me to new threats and intimidation,” he wrote. He said his relatives were also in the line of fire, adding that the hackers “are willing to pay for more details about me and my loved ones.” His answer was blunt: “I will not be intimidated in any way.”

What Tajani has and has not said

Tajani did not say what kind of information was exposed, and he did not describe the threats he mentioned. He suggested the problem is still going on rather than being a single, finished breach. He said the Foreign Ministry was taking the matter seriously and coordinating its response with allied countries.

He offered a political motive. “Our position on Ukraine is the political reason I have been targeted,” he said, arguing that backing a sovereign state’s democracy and independence is seen as “dangerous in the eyes of these criminal entities.” Al Jazeera reported that he also floated another possibility: the attacks could be a reaction to Rome’s efforts to strengthen the ministry’s digital defences.

Meloni points to pro-Russian hackers

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed her colleague publicly and put the blame on pro-Russian hackers. She offered Tajani her “full solidarity” and described the sale of confidential information about public officials as a matter of grave concern that must be tackled “with the utmost determination.”

The sources do not include technical evidence tying a specific group to the Tajani data leak, and the attribution so far comes from the government itself. Moscow has not publicly responded to the allegations, according to the BBC.

Meloni also raised a separate worry: the circulation of false images, which she said had been shared by members of Italy’s opposition. She did not say what the images showed or how they relate to the hacking, so that part of the story remains unclear.

A wider pattern across Europe

The episode lands amid a run of disruptive incidents across the continent. Al Jazeera noted a spate of hoax bomb threats that have diverted flights and triggered security alerts at broadcasters, as well as attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems. The BBC separately reported that shop freezers in seven European countries were hit by a cyber-attack days earlier. The sources do not establish that the same actors are behind all of these events, and the Tajani case is described as a distinct targeting of a senior official.

Italy has given Ukraine both humanitarian and military support since Russia’s invasion, which is the backdrop to Tajani’s argument that his position makes him a target. For now, the key unanswered questions are what data was exposed, who is behind the postings, and how far the exposure of the foreign minister’s relatives could go. Rome says it is working with allies to find out.

Explore more on this topic with Vexel Search.

File photo: Antonio Tajani 2025.jpg by European People’s Party, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.