A report by the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), published on the website of La Repubblica newspaper, points out that these attacks have already reached a critical level in this country, although it is difficult to determine the exact number of cases, as more than 60 percent of the victims avoid reporting them.

This analysis ranks Italy fourth in Europe among the most affected nations, with approximately 145 cyberattacks of this type in 2024, amounting to more than 28 terabytes, according to a survey quoted by specialized media Ransomfeed News, which represents 12 percent of those registered at regional level.

The main targets of cybercriminals are in the private sector, particularly medium and small companies, consulting entities and law firms, with manufacturing as the sector reporting the highest number of attacks, adds the source.

A recent report on cyber-attack risks in Italy by cybersecurity firm Tinexta Cyber found that 90.0 percent of cyber-attacks are related to human error and are therefore preventable, although the increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a cause for concern.

Expert Enrico Morisi said it is worrying that AI, “is already comparable to a basic product, usable by almost anyone”, for cybercrimes such as data hijacking, “accounting for an unprecedented action capacity”.

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