Italy has seen a significant increase in cyber attacks over the past number of years, and a corresponding increase in cyber security spending. This was the overview presented by Giorgia Paola Dragoni, Senior Researcher at the Cybersecurity & Data Protection Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, at the Enterprise Ireland Market Study Visit (MSV) to Italy on the 2 – 4 October 2023, Rome.
Cyber Ireland and six Irish cyber security companies (Siren, Stryve, Getvisitibility, 4Securitas, Daon, Edgescan, Waratek) participated in the trade mission, which included a B2B Event between Irish cyber security companies an Italian Enterprises on Day 1 and attendance at the CyberTech Europe Conference on Day 2 & 3.
In 2022, Italy was the target of 7.6% of global cyberattacks (compared to 3.4% in 2021)1. There were 188 significant attacks against Italian institutions, an increase of 169% compared to the previous year, with 83% of them were high or critical in severity.
This has led to increasing budgets for cybersecurity solutions and services for enterprises, from €1.19 billion in 2018 to €1.85 billion in 2022, an increase of over 50%. This has migrated down from large companies to increasing Investments from medium-sized enterprises, with a particular demand on managed services
The ACN is Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency, established in 2021 to protect national interests in the field of cybersecurity. The ACN manages the €623 million earmarked by the EU-bankrolled National Recovery and Resilience Plan to strengthen cybersecurity defences in the country’s public administrations. The Agency must also manage a 1.2% share of the gross national investments for 2023 to implement the National Cybersecurity Strategy.
The Cybersecurity & Data Protection Observatory Report2 from the Politecnico di Milano Digital Innovation Observatories is in its ninth edition and intends to respond to companies’ need to know, understand and deal with new threats to data protection and cybersecurity by supporting organizations in choosing the most appropriate protections, making them aware of the importance of monitoring and controlling activities and showing them the techniques and technologies to support adoptable cybersecurity.
Cyber Ireland Cluster Manager, Eoin Byrne, presented the Irish Cyber Ecosystem highlighting the strengths of the Irish sector around Talent, Trust and Innovation. A panel discussion on ‘Irish Capability, Italian Opportunity’ with large Italian Enterprises included advice for cyber security start-ups and SMEs on getting in front of large buyers and how to solve their security challenges.
Special thanks to the Enterprise Ireland team for organisation the market study visit, in particular Sara Bonomi, EI Market Advisor, Italy.
