Over the past couple of months, it has become increasingly common on social platforms, particularly Facebook, to view images with emotional content generated byartificial intelligence. These deepfakes are capturing millions of likes and comments from users unaware of their artificial nature. This phenomenon is just one example of the serious gap in the digital discernment of Italians, who are often unable to distinguish reality from AI-generated content.

And if you think this only affects the less educated part of the population, you are wrong. Recently, a group of fraudsters exploitedartificial intelligence to clone the voice of Defence Minister Guido Crosetto. Using this technology, they contacted entrepreneurs of the calibre of Massimo Moratti, Del Vecchio and many others, demanding almost one million euros for a fake ransom.

Fraud based on artificial intelligence, therefore, is not limited to a few individuals, but involves everyone, including institutions. New hacking techniques exploit AI for increasingly sophisticated attacks, putting an already fragile country in trouble from a cybersecurity point of view.

Cyber attacks on the rise: Italy in the crosshairs of hackers

In recent months, Italy recorded a 65% increase in cyber attacks compared to the previous year. In 2023, 310 serious attacks were documented, representing11% of incidents globally. The most affected sectors were:

• Government sector: almost 19% of attacks
• Transport and logistics: 620% year-on-year increase

Approaching more recent times, here are some of the most significant attacks between December 2024 and January 2025:

• December 2024: Trenitalia suffered a cyber attack that compromised its ticketing systems. This contributed to the technical failure on 17 December, rendering Trenitalia’s website and app inaccessible, preventing users from consulting timetables and purchasing tickets online.
• December 2024: The Italian healthcare sector was hit by a 50 per cent increase in attacks compared to the previous year, causing disruptions in hospital services and putting patients’ health at risk.
• December 2024: Meta analysts detect abnormal surveillance activity via Graphite, an advanced spyware from Paragon Solutions used to infiltrate WhatsApp devices. The attack, blocked by Meta, affected around 90 people in 14 European countries, including seven Italian activists and journalists. The government instructed theNational Cybersecurity Agency (NCA) to investigate the matter.
• 27 December 2024: InfoCert, provider of SPID and PEC, was attacked with the theft of personal data of 5.5 million people, including names, emails and tax codes. The malfeasance was claimed on BreachForums, with the data being offered for sale for $1,500.
• 11 January 2025: The pro-Russian hacker group Noname057(16) launched DDoS attacks against Italian institutional sites, including the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Infrastructure and Transport, Consob, Carabinieri, Navy and Air Force.
• 12 January 2025: The same hackers hit Intesa Sanpaolo and Monte dei Paschi di Siena, as well as the ports of Taranto and Trieste. In parallel, the pro-Palestinian group Alixec attacked companies such as Olidata, Skillbill and Zucchetti.
• 26 January 2025: The Italian Ministry of Defence was the target of a DDoS attack by the Pro-Palestine Hackers Movement (PPHM).

These episodes clearly show how Italy is a privileged target for cyber criminals.

School and digital illiteracy: a structural problem

With good grace from the Meloni government, the famous phrase engraved on the walls of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in EUR – ‘Italians, people of poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scientists, navigators, transmigrators’ – should be updated, adding ‘victims of technology’.

Italian schools do not adequately prepare students for digital challenges. The functional illiteracy index in Italy is among the highest in Europe, and this is also reflected in the technology sector. We do not understand the change taking place nor the threats, but also the benefits, arising fromartificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

If the trend is not reversed, cyber security will soon become one of the country’s top three problems, alongside public debt and climate change.

Italy, with the support ofEurope, must tackle this emergency by investing in training, cyber security and research. The gap with the US, Russia, China and European partners must be closed. The country’s future depends on its ability to adapt to the digital world and protect its citizens from cybercrime threats.

The future of the country also depends, it must be said, on the leaders of the National Cybersecurity Agency, on their choices. By our current and future ministers, especially ofEducation, Transport, Defence and Interior.

If we don’t figure this out soon, and speaking of navigators, we are in serious danger of sinking and dragging part of Europe down with us.