ATHENS – Despite data breaches hitting the world’s major banks, governments, and companies, Greece reportedly wasn’t prepared to deal with hack attacks, allegedly by Turkish perpetrators, that briefly shut down official websites.

The cyberattacks targeted even the Prime Minister, Parliament and National Intelligence Service with Kathimerini reporting that firewall systems and other defenses aimed at stopping them were inadequate or outdated and that more security was needed.

Some of the systems are 16 years old, an eternity in the world of Information Technology where current methods of infiltrating computer systems are so sophisticated they require constant upgrades and countermeasures.

The report said there were lapses in password systems in the public sector making it easier for hackers and phishers to gain entry, with worry rising that the government and other websites are still vulnerable.

Turkish hackers brought down Greek websites, including the Foreign Ministry, fire and police and public safety systems through a distributed denial-of-service or DDoS attacks which make websites unavailable to users, said government spokesman Stelios Petsas.

The DDoS technique is often used as a distraction to allow hackers to steal data in a parallel assault, the paper said, but there was no report on whether any data was stolen nor how critical was the first sites breach.