Carmelo Miano, a 24-year-old who has been described as a tech whiz and “hacker” by Italian media since his early October arrest, faces far graver charges than those labels suggest. By his own admission, Miano hacked into the Justice Ministry’s systems, accessed various court archives, and infiltrated the email accounts of numerous magistrates. He also compromised the personal data of millions of TIM customers and breached the network used by Italy’s financial police. Despite these serious accusations, authorities had previously underestimated him.
Miano was arrested in early October after a meticulous investigation that employed both cyber forensics and traditional surveillance methods. The police installed a hidden camera to monitor his activities in his small Roman apartment, where he conducted his illegal operations. Investigators later discovered €6.3 million in bitcoin, though how Miano acquired such a substantial sum remains unclear. He is currently being held in Regina Coeli prison.
Miano’s history with cybersecurity traces back to his teenage years, demonstrating a knack for advanced hacking techniques. He was employed by the Japanese multinational NTT Data, specializing in cybersecurity, and had previously come under investigation in 2020 for allegedly running an illegal online marketplace on the dark web, selling drugs and weapons. Despite suspicions, an earlier search of his home yielded little evidence, allowing him to slip under the radar.
His recent activities, however, were more focused on infiltrating Italy’s justice system. After a failed phishing attempt targeting the financial police, Miano succeeded in breaching TIM’s network, stealing data from 23 million users, including credentials from a cloud management company working with the Justice Ministry. Using this information, he hacked the email accounts of magistrates involved in online criminal investigations, including the high-profile “Berlusconi Market” case.
Investigations revealed that Miano had accessed sensitive information from 46 magistrates across Italy. His most notable breach involved documents from the prosecutor of Brescia and a vast collection of legal files from various offices. However, his motivations behind these intrusions, and how they connect to other illegal activities, remain under investigation. Authorities are also probing whether he had accomplices in selling the stolen data.
Miano’s defense lawyer, Gioacchino Genchi, has contested the charges, arguing that Miano’s abilities far exceeded his actions and that the system’s vulnerabilities, not his criminal intent, were at fault. He claims Miano could have caused widespread damage to Italy’s judicial system but chose not to.
