Alessandro Scarafile

Alessandro Scarafile (Milan, October 26, 1979) is an Italian computer scientist and entrepreneur expert in computer security.
Former software developer and consultant, he is known to have been in charge of Hacking Team operations, coordinating between May 2011 and March 2019 the installation of backdoors for wiretapping, cyber intrusions and espionage activities in over 60 countries around the world. Following a massive cyberattack suffered by Hacking Team in 2015, thousands of confidential communications and emails are posted on the WikiLeaks website, highlighting direct relationships with government institutions, secret services and intelligence agencies around the world, including CIA, FBI, FSB, NSA, NISS and VPD.
The material, which became public, revealed Scarafile's questionable involvement with governments deemed poorly respectful of human rights, including Azerbaijan, Bahrein, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, in parallel to the support of Italian and international law enforcement agencies in relation to news events that have assumed great media relevance and considered not yet fully resolved, including the Murder of Yara Gambirasio and the Murder of Giulio Regeni, due to the alleged use of RCS software distributed by Hacking Team at ROS in Italy and the Ministry of Defense in Egypt.
In April 2019 Hacking Team was acquired by InTheCyber Group, changing its name to Memento Labs, where Scarafile was reconfirmed in charge for all the operations of the company, but suddenly leaving the position after only 5 months. Although the work of Hacking Team has always been carried out within the apparent limits of the law, both Scarafile and its operational staff have never released any statements to the press, until an interview on August 5, 2020 with Cynthia Lardner for International Policy Digest, where Scarafile clarified how the activities he managed during his assignments in Hacking Team were in effect of an "offensive" nature.
In 2020 he enters Syneto as Vice President for Cyber Security & Operations.
== Biography ==
Alessandro Scarafile was born on October 26, 1979 in Milan, later moving with his family to the town of Pavia at the age of 15. Here he started his studies in the IT field, attending the G. Cardano technical institute and the Engineering Faculty at the University ofPavia, and then continuing his academic career through the Faculty of Security of Systems and Computer Networks at the University of Milan.
== Entrepreneurship ==
In March 2002, at the age of 22, he opened his first IT consulting company based in Pavia, called NET-SERVICE, mainly active in the provision of services in the areas of development, networking, hosting, housing and co-location for Italian SMEs, which in the early 2000s began to appear on the Internet.
In 2010 he launched a startup with the name BrandToMe, a "social brandworking" web platform that entered public beta and then ceased in 2014, initially designed through an international collaboration group with students of the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and Saint Petersburg (Russia).
In 2019, in conjunction with a sabbatical dedicated to the study of IoT technologies and related security implications, launches a new startup called Crazy Trips, based in Tallinn (Estonia) through the e-Residency program, a company focused on the development of algorithms for monitoring the availability of low-cost air traffic in Eastern Europe, operating mainly between Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
In 2020 he established SCARAFILE Consulting, an advisory company based in Timișoara (Romania).
== Italian experience ==
Between 2002 and 2009 Scarafile carried out numerous consultancy activities mainly in the IT security, IT auditing and anti-fraud areas, for some of the most important Italian banking groups and consortia, including: Banca Intesa, Banca Mediolanum, Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, Banca Popolare di Vicenza, BPU Banca, CABEL, Capitalia, Cedacri, CSE, Intesa Sanpaolo, Iside, Lombarda Sistemi e Servizi, SEC Servizi, UBI Banca, UBS and UniCredit.
Between 2009 and 2011 he supported multiple Italian brands and local offices of multinational groups in the IT Project management and business information, in the insurance (Allianz, Cardif, CF Assicurazioni, Reale Mutua, SACE, Vittoria Assicurazioni, Zurich), automobile (FIAT, Iveco), distribution (Esprinet, Ingram Micro, Sonepar), energy (A2A, Edipower, Edison, Enel, Eni, ERG, Shell), financial (CartaSi, Compass, Diners, Fiditalia, Fininvest, Ktesios) and telecommunications (Vodafone, Wind) sectors.
In 2011 he joined Hacking Team, an Italian company focused on development of intrusion and espionage IT technologies, with headquarters in Milan and secondary offices in Singapore and Washington, D.C., holding the position of Operations Manager until company's acquisition, in 2019.
== International experience ==
Mainly for having held the role of Operations Manager in Hacking Team, Scarafile has operated personally in at least 51 countries around the world, some of which are dealt with several times by the media due to the sale of "technological weapons" made by Hacking Team. These countries are probably joined by many others, even if they cannot be confirmed as they were not the subject of the 2015 data leak, but still part of the range of action of Hacking Team during his role, and taken up by various press and information.
Africa and the Middle East 	Americas 	Asia and Pacific 	Europe
Algeria (Police) 	Argentina 	Azerbaijan 	Bulgaria
Bahrain 	Brazil 	Bangladesh (Armed Forces) 	Croatia (Intelligence, Ministry of the Interior)
Egypt 	Canada 	Georgia 	Cyprus
Ethiopia 	Chile 	Indonesia 	Czech Republic
Iraq 	Colombia 	Kazakhstan (National Security)	Estonia
Kurdistan 	Ecuador 	Malaysia 	France
Kuwait (Ministry of Defence)	Guatemala 	Russia 	Greece
Lebanon (National Security) 	Honduras 	Singapore 	Hungary
Morocco 	Mexico (General Attorney)	South Korea (Intelligence) 	Ireland (Defence Forces)
Nigeria 	Panama 	Thailand 	Polizia Postale, ROS)
Oman 	CIA, FBI, NSA) 	Uzbekistan 	Kosovo (Ministry of the Interior)
Qatar 	 	 	Latvia
Saudi Arabia (Royal Court) 	 	 	Macedonia (Intelligence, Ministry of the Interior)
Sudan 	 	 	Montenegro (Ministry of the Interior)
United Arab Emirates 	 	 	Poland (Anti-corruption)
 	 	 	Romania
 	 	 	Serbia
 	 	 	Slovakia
 	 	 	Slovenia (Ministry of the Interior)
 	 	 	Switzerland
 	 	 	Turkey (General Directorate of Security)
 	 	 	United Kingdom
== Nickname ==
Several sources would lead to identify Alessandro Scarafile behind the pseudonym of Etnok, nickname signatory of a well-known Hacker Manifesto written in the 90s and attributable to an Italian hacker group called Etnok Crew, also included in some university texts, including "Informatica, internet e diritto penale" by Carlo Sarzana di S. Ippolito.
Category:Italian computer scientists
Category:Italian businesspeople
Category:Information technology companies of Italy