Category: Intelligence

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Italian Prime Minister Decree 131/20 on the cyber perimeter increases confusion and does not protect national security

By Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Infosec.News

Italian Prime Minister Decree 131/2020 is one of the acts resulting from the enactment of Law Decree 105/19, later converted into Law 133/09 establishing the national cyber perimeter, a concept also relevant for the application of Legislative Decree 65/18, transposing EU Directive 1148/16 (NIS Directive). While this sentence appears to be illegible and incomprehensible, the choices and content of the Prime Ministerial Decree are even more so because they increase the level of the contradiction of a body of legislation which, by regulating national security, should instead be easy to understand and agile to apply.

However, first things first. Continue reading “Italian Prime Minister Decree 131/20 on the cyber perimeter increases confusion and does not protect national security”

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The Five Eyes look to the East. And Italy?

A press release issued by the US Department of Defense on 15 October 2020 aseptically announces the results of the last (official) meeting between the members of Five Eyes, the agreement between the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for the acquisition and exchange of information on strategies and tactics to protect national interests by Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Formiche.net Continue reading “The Five Eyes look to the East. And Italy?”

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Meeting Pompeo – Di Maio, the unresolved contradictions of Italian national security

The coincidence of strategic positions between the EU and the US has disappeared if ever it existed, but Italy still does not decide and finds itself playing on three tables without knowing which one to bet by Andrea Monti – initially published in Italian by Infosec News

The statements made by Italian Foreign Minister Di Maio after the meeting with US Secretary of State Pompeo reveal once again the stalemate in which Italy finds itself, unable to decide between the EU, the US and China. Although it is the Cold War II between the USA and China that occupies the international limelight, the less intense conflict between the EU and the USA is no less essential and requires Italy to make clear choices. Continue reading “Meeting Pompeo – Di Maio, the unresolved contradictions of Italian national security”

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Zhenhua and the risk for the data-economy ecosystem

Collecting information and profiling people are widely practised all over the world. In Italy, though, a provision of the Testo Unico delle Leggi di Pubblica Sicurezza  (TULPS) dating back to the Mussolini’s rule prohibits activities of this kind. Open-source intelligence and data-brokerage are at risk? Prof. Monti’s analysis – published in Italian by Formiche.net

The “Zhenhua case”, involving a Chinese company accused of creating the Oversea Key Information DataBase (Okid) to catalogue data from public sources relating to people of millions, was presented as yet another hostile action by China towards the rest of the world. In reality, however, Okid is no different from its Western equivalents which, at least in Italy, could be prohibited by the Public Security legislation. Continue reading “Zhenhua and the risk for the data-economy ecosystem”

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GDPR and the Next Italian Unified Telecommunication Network

The presence of non-EU subjects among the owners of the single network poses national security problems that have already emerged in the case-law of the European Court of Justice by Andrea Monti

Among the many aspects related to the creation of the unified Italian telecommunication network, the relationship between personal data protection, the presence of non-EU owners in the corporate structure and national security deserves special consideration. Indeed, given the criticality of the telecommunications sector, the absence of full control by Italy opens up the risk of foreign interference in the protection of the fundamental interests of the State, as highlighted in the Huawei case.

The nature and extent of the problem become apparent by recomposing the different tiles of the current political and legal mosaic. Continue reading “GDPR and the Next Italian Unified Telecommunication Network”