Cybersecurity: the agreement between FBK, University of Trento and Confindustria Trento for an ecosystem of international standing

To this end, the University of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and Confindustria Trento signed a memorandum of understanding on December 16, 2022 in which they undertake to collaborate, each for their own skills and equipment, guiding companies in the choice of the most appropriate forms of protection, raising awareness of the importance of monitoring and control of activities and illustrating techniques and technologies to support cybersecurity.

In many economic sectors, cybersecurity plays an increasingly important role, with obvious social and cultural impacts. The three players, who already have an active and important role in the sector, and who already collaborate on various fronts by promoting the connection between businesses and the system of university training and research, will in particular develop research and training initiatives, to strengthen an ecosystem of international relevance.

“This important agreement is a further step forward in our path of collaboration with the productive and social sector of the Trentino area – said Flavio Deflorian, President of the University of Trento –. On the topics of cyber security, the University of Trento can boast many multidisciplinary skills, which we are pleased to make available to local businesses. Ensuring the correct cybersecurity level of companies is in fact an increasingly demanding challenge that we are sure we can meet by working together with the local authorities involved in development and technology innovation”. Paolo Giorgini, director of the University’s Department of Engineering and Information Science added: “The initiative – he explained – arises from the growing demand for support on cybersecurity. The observatory, coordinated by Professor Bruno Crispo, has as its first objective to guide companies on a path of awareness and empowerment on risks, solutions to be adopted for prevention purposes and actions to be taken in case of attacks. The Department of Engineering and Information Science will provide expertise and know-how to develop a widespread culture of information security in the area.”

“In order to drive the digital transition – pointed out Fondazione Bruno Kessler President Francesco Profumo – we need to increase user confidence in new technologies.  To this end, we must be able to manage technologies safely but also create awareness of the risks associated with their use in users and professionals whose work nvolves providing services or managing digital infrastructures.   Given the speed at which not only technologies but also security threats are evolving, it becomes critical to create skills that can identify vulnerabilities, design mitigation solutions and implement them in order to improve the security posture of not only individual organizations but the entire digital ecosystem so as to minimize the negative consequences of the many possible attacks.Creating a virtuous circle between research and business, represented here by the university, FBK, and Confindustria, is the key to systematically and well-foundedly building such competencies in Trentino.  This agreement is an important step in that direction and sets the stage for effective collaboration with national organizations, such as the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), and European entities, such as ENISA, with the ultimate goal of enabling users to confidently use digital services in an increasingly interconnected world.”

“The agreement,” Fausto Manzana, president of Confindustria Trento said, “defines the contours of a larger system project, which also benefits from the contribution of the Postal Police, the Autonomous Province of Trento and Trentino Digitale. With them, our Association has signed specific agreements of an extremely technical and operational nature, which concretely resolve the issue of passing data and information useful for preparing the defenses necessary to neutralize cyber attacks. Last but not least, in chronological order, this protocol contains, completes and strengthens the spirit of an alliance involving the most qualified cybersecurity specialists in Trentino”.

Contents, opportunities and benefits of the system alliance against cyber attacks will be presented at a public event scheduled for January 18 in Trento.

In the photo (Confindustria Trento): Bruno Crispo, Silvio Ranise, Fausto Manzana, Flavio Deflorian and Paolo Giorgini

Confindustria Trento/FBK/UniTN Press release