The second annual SICYNT meeting was held on Saturday 20 May at the CISCO headquarters in Rome.
SICYNT is an Italian association born with the aim of disseminating and training the public on increasingly relevant issues of computer security and new technologies and more widely on employment opportunities and the risks deriving from them.
In the 2023 conference, the emphasis was placed on the theme of “Digitization and Cyber Security”.
The theme of this edition is deliberately very broad, for two reasons: firstly for give members the opportunity to express their opinion on the preferred and best-known theme; secondly because, actually, digitization is gaining more and more importance in our society, touching areas unthinkable only a few years ago. Digitization which, in some cases, is not always the result of a formal process which should include the analysis of needs, processes, the development of a digitization plan and its implementation, the measurement of the objectives achieved and then the continuous improvement, but rather a partly chaotic process, where good will does not always make up for the lack of preparation or technical personnel.
Digitization should bring many benefits, but its dark side is often overlooked: the increase of the attack surface.
Some may wonder what all this means. The answer is simple: digitizing means increasing the risks directly linked to this technology, in particular to cyber attacks as well as possible malfunctions.
The solution to the "problem" of digitization is not easy and is mainly based on the training of every single human being belonging to our society. Training of different types and at different levels, but it is still training. This is why it is necessary to speak with schools, with teachers of all levels and try to stimulate the growth of awareness of the risks involved in using such advanced technologies, often incomprehensible to most.
The risks increase as the surface exposed to possible attacks increases and, in a world that tends to be increasingly digital, the risks increase considerably, often hidden from our eyes.
The event, which began at 9.30, saw the participation of speakers from various sectors somehow connected to the main themes already mentioned.
Important speakers from various sectors of Italian society, professionals who make new technologies and research not only a profession but above all a passion that has been carried forward with dedication throughout their lives.
Moderator of the event Orazio Danilo Russo.
Among the topics covered there were many ideas on the Privileged access management (Luca Mastromauro / Sicynt), on supply chain vulnerability in software development (Davide Ariu / Pluribus One / Sicynt), sui risks and possibilities of new cryptographic technologies linked to quantum machines (Edoardo Persichetti / De Componendis Cifris), on legal and ethical aspects of Artificial Intelligence in Europe and worldwide (Andrea Puigheddu / Privacy and New Technologies Study Center / Sicynt), sul concept of Zero Trust, on Threat Intelligence and the methodologies used in the field (Andrea Piras / Sicynt), of the research in Italy in the Cybersecurity sector (Giorgio Giacinto / University of Cagliari / Sicynt). Finally Andrea Castellano (CISCO) explained to us the concept of Zero Trust and how it is understood by CISCO.
Above all, the conference was a splendid opportunity to to network, get to know each other among members who in some cases had not yet met physically and exchange experiences and knowledge.
The event was made possible by the active participation of many SICYNT members who met just under a year after the Cagliari conference, but also thanks to the participation and support of the University of Cagliari, the De Componendis association Cifris, of the Pluribus One company, of the Privacy and New Technologies Study Center, of AVL Studios and last but not least, of CISCO Italia which has made available the rooms of its Roman headquarters in via del Serafico.
