Article by the Director General of the DIS, Giovanni De Gennaro, published on the February 2011 issue of the monthly magazine "Formiche"

Global competition is getting increasingly fiercer for countries that, like Italy, hold and intend to maintain prominent positions in the world economy: day by day the number of competitors increases, productivity levels grow, the playground, i.e. competing markets, gets bigger, while crises rapidly propagate from one market to another.

The first and most evident consequence of this situation is that competition involves a country as a whole, thus affecting the system we describe as “national interests”, i.e. the ensemble of political and social institutions, productive and economic system, financial system as well as strategic infrastructure.

By saying “affecting”, we mean not only that competition involves, stimulates, undermines and puts under pressure all the fundamental assets of a national collectivity, but it also “exposes” and “endangers” them.

It is easy to understand that this latter aspect becomes of great importance for the Republic’s institutions entrusted with delicate intelligence gathering missions. Such tasks are no longer limited, as provided for before the enactment of the Italian intelligence reform law, to the defence of the independence of the State, the protection of its territorial integrity and its democratic institutions, but also to the safeguard of Italy’s “economic, scientific and cultural” interests.

Besides the insidious, multifaceted threat of international terrorism, today we are confronted with threats aiming at the core of the know-how and competitive capabilities of our companies. And although the latter threat is not as evident as the former to the eyes of public opinion, it is all the more dangerous.

But there is more of it. There is a tool, or rather a set of tools that can be used to undermine citizens’ security, to cause irreparable damage to companies, and to prevent the most important bodies of the State and civil society from functioning.

I refer to the means and technologies that can be used to cause damage to computer and network infrastructure, or to hack into such systems to steal the data they store or transmit.

In cold war times, the “total” threat consisted in the nuclear weapon – using nuclear energy for mass destruction purposes. In today’s global competition, the “total weapon” is the offensive use of high-tech tools.

There are other threats in addition to cybercrime – the criminal threat aiming at private assets, identity or information theft – which Italian police forces have been targeting, often successfully, for a long time. There are threats such as cyber-terrorism – i.e. using the Internet for propaganda, proselytism and preparing attacks – and cyber-espionage, especially targeting companies to steal their industrial secrets. And when such secrets involve military equipment or potential war material, attacks do not only affect the economic system, but also the security of the State.

These developments have outlined cyber-war scenarios, that is the confrontation between States launched by attacking critical infrastructure, not only involving the military but also the infrastructure governing the regular functioning of the social and economic life.

After these brief considerations, I think it is not necessary to say many words to explain why the most important challenge for third-millennium intelligence will take place on the difficult playground of cyber-security.

Cyber-security is the area where security intelligence organizations from the most developed countries will have to confront. In undertaking this task, first we must be aware of one simple and basic factor: the higher the technology level in a national collectivity, the more its citizens, companies and public administrations use computers, the more they use the Internet to acquire, transfer or exchange information, then the greater the vulnerability of the country’s national interests is.

If we come round to this idea – as is imperative – it is not difficult to agree on the above mentioned opinion that today cyber-security has already become a strategic priority, considering the irreparable damage that a large-scale computer attack may cause to a developed country.

It is no accident that the need to develop defence against cyber-attacks has been pointed out in the NATO’s new Strategic Concept, adopted at the summit meeting in Lisbon on 20 November 2010.

As far as Italy is concerned, I would like to recall the report approved on 7 July 2010 by Italy’s Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the “possible cyberspace implications and threats to national security”.

The report points out the need for a “strategic planning to counter cyber-threats”. It is therefore necessary to outline a national plan managed by an authoritative entity so that all available resources may be managed as a whole.

In other words, we should create the organizational conditions to ensure a good immediate response capability, even against large-scale attacks involving multiple targets. Such a goal cannot be left to the good will of the players concerned, but – as friend countries have already done – it must be put in the hands of a strategic body ensuring “coordination among the actors involved. Thus, an ad-hoc function not only to cope with a serious crisis, but also to examine and plan preventive defence. And this can be done by “redefining the existing structures, as well as competencies and responsibilities”.

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