A rupture, a change in the relationship of trust between the government and the director of the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) Roberto Baldoni whoyesterday resigned from office. Hypotheses that at the moment do not officially explain the reasons for the decision by Baldoni to leave the structure, inaugurated by the Draghi government and Undersecretary Gabrielli, since the moment of its establishment, in August 2021.
Baldoni had been head of the cyber defense structure since January 2018, when he was appointed deputy director of the DIS with the task of "developing the National Cybersecurity Architecture and coordinating actions to mitigate cyber attacks with impact on national security". Since 2002 full professor of Computer Science at La Sapienza University of Rome, he founded in 2011 and directed until 2017 the first research center in Italy on "Cyber Intelligence and Computer Security" which brought together more than 200 professors from 45 public and private universities in Italy.
The resignation, however, marks a shock in the security sector, so far untouched by the new government with regard to top positions.
Among the tasks of the Agency is the support to national public and private entities, which provide essential services, in the prevention and mitigation of accidents and for the purpose of restoring systems, the promotion of awareness campaigns and dissemination of the culture of cybersecurity.
Baldoni leaves in the middle of the campaign of Russian hacker attacks that also in recent days have targeted sites of a series of ministries and institutions. The political referent of the director of the Agency is Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, Authority delegated to the security of the Republic. The two were present last Tuesday at the presentation of the annual report of the Intelligence, which as every year, dedicated ample space to the cyber threat.
Now you change. The government aims to replace the professor in a short time to give a new guide to the Agency, which has in Nunzia Ciardi the deputy director. The PNR has allocated 623 million euros to the sector, while a share equal to 1.2% of gross national investments on an annual basis will be reserved for the implementation of the National Cybersecurity Strategy. It will be up to Baldoni's successor to manage these huge resources, according to the indications that will come from the center-right executive with which Baldoni was evidently no longer in tune.