the cybersecurity market | Italy

1.1 Definition and scope of study

Cybersecurity refers to the processes and practices that are designed and undertaken in order to protect networks, programs, data and devices from attacks or unauthorised access

Despite being a relatively new domain, and still not fully regulated (laws and decrees: 1996, 1992, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2018, 2019), the Italian cybersecurity market is booming, recording double digit figures of growth in the years 2018-20. This market can be broken down into five main segments :

• Cybersecurity consulting
• Hardware
• Software
• Managed Security & Cloud services
• Other (system intergration, training etc)

Large companies are the primary investors in cybersecurity, with IT managers/CTOs becoming acutely aware of risks on their information systems as well as increased pressures regarding user data confidentiality. The banking/financial sector leads Italy in terms of cybersecurity spending, followed by government (particularly defence, foreign, and local/regional governments), transportation, telecommunications and manufacturing round off the top 5. More than half SMEs in Italy do not currently spend on cybersecurity.

The cybersecurity market in Italy is split between large multinational companies such as Kasperky, McAfee, Cisco and Broadcom as well as smaller more specialised companies who provide tailor-made solutions (ELTA, BooleBox and BlackSwan).

Despite lagging behind its European neighbours in this sector, with the increased digitalisation of society, and higher volume and danger of cyberattacks (1.557 serious attacks in 2018 +38% on 2017) cybersecurity spending is expected to keep increasing in Italy.