Computer worm disrupts Italian Senate

Hackers have disrupted the Italian Senate after computer systems were hit by one of the many variants of the Rbot worm.

The Rbot family of worms allows remote hackers to gain access to infected computers, steal information and monitor computer users via webcams.

Hackers were able to take over compromised computers at the Italian Senate to display hardcore homosexual pornography on monitors around the organisation. The upper house of the Italian Senate in Rome is said to have ground to a halt on Tuesday.

It was recently reported that Dario Mattiello, secretary to the country’s former culture minister, had claimed he was dismissed from his post after a photograph was published of him at a gay nightspot in Rome. It has been suggested that the attacks are related to this sacking.

"Mattiello's firing has angered some in the gay community, but it's impossible to say yet if it was the motive for this attack," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Whatever their motives, hackers have shown a bare-faced cheek by planting these homosexual images at the heart of Italy's political establishment."