In the annual report of the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) emerges a dynamic picture full of activities for the year 2022. The Agency, which was established in the second half of 2021, has dealt with a thousand cyber incidents, financed 129 projects in the field of cybersecurity, carried out 67 measures to ensure the reliability of digital infrastructures, participated in 5 international missions, organized 19 bilateral meetings and held 27 meetings of the Cybersecurity Unit. ACN worked intensely during the year, despite being in a phase of internal structuring. The need to protect the country has stimulated the Agency to develop the National Cybersecurity Strategy 2022-2026 and the related Implementation Plan, containing 82 measures aimed at strengthening cyber capacity in response to the challenges of the digital world, with a focus on three core objectives: protection, response and digital development.
The Agency has worked to safeguard national interests in the field of cybersecurity, collaborating closely with public administrations, the private sector, academia and research. This included exchanges and cooperation at both strategic and technical levels with European organisations, international partners and like-minded countries. An important point of reference is the CSIRT Italia, the Computer Emergency Response Team, which in 2022 managed 1,094 cyber events, of which 126 with an impact confirmed by the victims. In addition, the Agency received 81 reports arising from legislative obligations. During the year, ACN promoted 4 public tenders, contributing to the financing of 129 initiatives aimed at 51 public administrations (16 central and 35 local). It has also implemented 67 measures to ensure the safety, efficiency, energy saving and reliability of digital infrastructures, as well as the quality, safety, performance, scalability, interoperability and portability of cloud services.
Among the significant initiatives, ACN launched the Cyber Innovation Network, a network for the development of joint programs in the cybersecurity sector. It also defined a program of synergistic actions between research, start-ups and industry, culminating in the creation of a Research and Innovation (R&I) Agenda, accompanied by other collaborations at national and European level. On the international front, the Agency conducted 5 high-level missions (Brussels, United States – twice, Israel, Canada), 19 bilateral meetings with foreign authorities and governmental organizations in the field of cybersecurity, and 4 meetings with intergovernmental organizations. In addition, ACN hosted 27 meetings of the Cybersecurity Core (NCS), which is the hub of cross-ministerial coordination on cybersecurity and national resilience in cyberspace. The Director General of the Agency, Prefect Bruno Frattasi, underlined the intensity and richness of the year’s challenges, ensuring a continuous commitment. The agency plans to expand its staff, adding new ones to the existing staff of 180, with the aim of reaching 300 members by the end of the year. Furthermore, a road map for the Research and Innovation plan will be published, created in collaboration with the Ministry of University and Research, and new tenders will be launched for the use of Pnrr resources.
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