Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a strategic cross-cutting issue that affects both relations among States and private actors. As more and more services become digital — from telemedicine to e-government and online banking — exposure to risk in this area continues to grow. Likewise, the spread of the Internet of Things has made even everyday objects vulnerable to hacking. The growing use of artificial intelligence is making attacks more sophisticated, including through the use of deepfakes, while also automating processes and enabling malicious actors to operate at unprecedented speed and scale.
The National Cybersecurity Strategy
Against this backdrop, in 2022 Italy adopted a National Cybersecurity Strategy aimed at making the country safer and more resilient in the face of these new challenges.
Closely linked to the Strategy is its Implementation Plan, which translates the Strategy’s objectives into 82 concrete measures to be carried out with the involvement of the entire Public Administration and, by extension, businesses and citizens, also through dedicated funding.
Of the 82 measures included in the Plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is jointly responsible for 12 and is an “interested actor” in a further 5, in close coordination with the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN).
More specifically, within the framework of Italy’s Growth and Innovation Diplomacy, the Ministry is responsible for implementing Measure No. 50: “to promote the internationalisation of Italian companies offering cybersecurity products and services through support for investment, innovation and exports”. Implementing Measure No. 50 also contributes positively to the achievement of other measures, including, in particular, Measure No. 78: “to create a national ecosystem aimed at developing capacity-building capabilities in favour of third countries”.
The internationalisation of cybersecurity companies
While it is difficult to provide a single estimate of the economic value of the sector — assessments of the size of the cybersecurity market in the European Union range from around EUR 40 billion to EUR 130 billion — it is nonetheless clear that this is a significant field involving thousands of companies.
For this reason, the Ministry, in coordination with ACN, has established a Coordination Table for the internationalisation of Italian cybersecurity companies. The Table is intended to serve as a platform for ongoing dialogue between the Public Administration — represented by MAECI, MIMIT, ACN and the Italian Trade Agency — and the private sector. It is a forum in which the public sector can present the opportunities it offers — such as the provision of cybersecurity services for countries involved in the Mattei Plan — while private stakeholders can put forward their priorities and proposals.
Since its first meeting in November 2024, the Table has met approximately every six months in a hybrid format. More than 100 representatives of institutions and companies take part in the meetings, including entities such as Leonardo, Eni and CDP Venture Capital.
In addition, together with the Italian Trade Agency, the Ministry organises Italy’s collective national presence at the most significant trade fairs in the sector. In 2025, for the first time, Italy also had a national representation at RSA in San Francisco, the world’s leading event in the field. Italy took part with 20 startups and scaleups.
In the coming years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intends to strengthen this commitment further, with a view to ensuring national pavilions at events covering both European and Asian markets.
Lastly, cybersecurity receives particular attention within the programme calendar of INNOVIT, the Ministry’s innovation and culture hub in San Francisco. INNOVIT regularly hosts events and acceleration programmes specifically designed for startups and SMEs in the sector, bringing the most promising Italian innovative companies before an audience of major Silicon Valley corporations and investors.
Last updated: January 2026