The event “Cybersecurity: training as a lever for the country’s growth” took place in Rome.

ROME – The event organised by the Cyber Security Italy Foundation, dedicated to cybersecurity, was held in the Sala della Protomoteca at the Campidoglio with the patronage of Roma Capitale. The activities were opened by the founder and president of the Foundation Marco Gabriele Proietti. Training in this topic can be a lever for the country’s growth. ‘The central and universal theme for our country is training’. Thus Angelo Tofalo, director of the technical-scientific committee of the Cyber security Italy Foundation, organiser of the event ‘Cybersecurity: training as a lever for the country’s growth’. “If we do not succeed in implementing and keeping up to date on cybersecurity training, we will not be able to face the new challenges, protect our critical infrastructures, and create a ruling class capable of launching Italy towards future challenges,” Tofalo concluded.

Frassinetti: Italy’s culture on cybersecurity is still weak, we must start at school.

“We are trying to start from kindergarten to introduce this important but unknown topic of cybersecurity. We are doing this from primary school to high school, but above all we think we need a new idea of university with the establishment of specialised courses, because this can be a job opportunity”. This was said by the Undersecretary for Education, Paola Frassinetti, on the sidelines of the event.

“Then there are the higher technical institutes, namely the Its Academies, which have specialised courses on this and are conducting courses on cybersecurity,” Frassinetti added. “In this way we are creating a managerial class that is responsible for the digital world and capable of foiling attacks that can occur on the web.
In a year and a half, Rome will host the Jubilee, the most important event on a planetary scale, which will certainly attract attempts at cyber attacks: “The government is aware of this, we have a structure that deals only with this and I am sure that everything will go well,” Frassinetti concluded, “but I reiterate the importance of young people being aware of a cybersecurity culture that is still too labile in our country.

Colucci (member of the Parliamentary intergroup): by the end of the year a proposal for a law will be deposited.

“Within the year there will be all the conditions to deposit the proposal“. Alessandro Colucci, deputy of Noi con l’Italia and coordinator of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Cybersecurity, explained the schedule of the law proposal, which the two Chambers are working on. “One of the members of the parliamentary intergroup has some bills. We want to tackle them after the most important hearings with the government and with the world of business and civil society,’ Colucci added. ‘Only in this way can we read the contents, in the light of the greater expertise that these worlds can provide us with. According to Colucci, ‘we need people to become aware of how important IT and technological security is in Italy, and through the work of the intergroup, with senators and deputies from the political forces of the majority and opposition, there is the possibility of drafting a shared law that aims to create a country that is adequate to cyber risks, cyber attacks, and is aware of the importance of IT security. Therefore, culture, training for young people, the fight against cyberbullying, awareness of the dangers, but also of the extraordinary opportunities,’ Colucci concluded, ‘given that we have important skills in Italy and a significant production of IT and technological supports.

The agency: ok to long-term training but we must face current problems.

‘The problem is complex, the need for training goes in many directions and some might say that we need a long-term approach starting with young people through school and university. This is true and the Agency is working in this direction, but at the same time the problems are there today and need to be addressed’. This was said by Paolo Atzeni, Director for Capacity and Competence Development at the National Cybersecurity Agency.

“All the Agency’s initiatives must refer to short-term interventions on current students, those in the labour market and in the public administration, addressing both specialists and managers, officials and task managers. They, too, need training,” Atzeni added, “Specialists and non-specialists must be able to talk to each other, and this also starts at school. It is necessary to promote cybersecurity and IT in general right from school so that in the culture of current and future citizens there is no separation between humanistic and technological aspects, but a whole that contributes to the growth of the person’.

Diomede (Rome): refining strategies, ready for the Jubilee.

“We are refining Rome’s first cybersecurity strategy, with the distribution, mapping of roles and responsibilities, and revising the processes so that they are known by all the actors of the authority: from decision-makers, to employees, to all organisational structures”. This is what said Nicla Ivana Diomede, director of the Cybersecurity and Urban Security Department of Rome.
“Another activity we are carrying out is the dissemination of the risk culture to all employees, with targeted exercises and attractive learning methods,” she explained. “Then we are enhancing the capacity to detect and respond to possible cyber threats. In this sense, we are equipping ourselves with particularly advanced technologies that can help us simplify and automate cybersecurity management’.

In addition, ‘we are also working on strengthening our capacity for attack prevention and cybersecurity in the city through a call for bids that includes the strengthening of video surveillance infrastructure and the creation of a room to support the Local Police and Civil Protection for the management of all ‘physical security’ events in the city,’ Diomede continued. ‘This is a way to give citizens a guarantee that their physical security infrastructure is resilient to possible attack that might attacks that might occur.

Will Rome be ready for the Jubilee to be cybersecurity resilient? “This is our commitment and we are working to arrive prepared and raise our posture. The tender I was referring to has the objective of securing all the sensors, cameras, and objects spread and distributed throughout the city, with the idea of having platforms that help the administration to govern the city,’ Diomede replied. ‘All this can only be accompanied by cybersecurity, and in fact a very important part of the investment is dedicated to this, with the creation and strengthening of a specialised centre to deal with cyber threats, made up of Roma Capitale personnel who are hyper-specialised also in IoT technologies that will pervade our city.

To sum up, ‘we are racing to be ready to face the challenge of the Jubilee, but not only that. We have won Pnrr funding projects and the goal is to reach a high level of protection by next year,’ concluded Diomede. ‘Rome already has a number of protection systems today, we want to make a leap forward and become a reference from this point of view for other large cities as well.

Source: Agenzia DIRE