Italy national security and cybersecurity threats

Italy is facing an evolving landscape of national security and hybrid threats. The Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) reported a shift from traditional physical border defense toward addressing threats targeting the nation’s social, economic, and digital fabric. Intelligence analyses, such as the ‘Governing Change’ report, emphasize the need to protect technological sovereignty, energy autonomy, and critical infrastructure within a hyper-technological environment.

This security landscape is increasingly characterized by rising cybersecurity risks. Italy has emerged as a significant target, ranking among the top five most targeted countries globally in July 2026. Within the Italian manufacturing sector, there is a specific rise in data manipulation, where attackers silently alter operational data and sensor readings to cause production defects. While malware detections on industrial control systems have decreased globally, the percentage of these systems targeted by ransomware is increasing, often exploiting legacy systems to cause disruption.