Confindustria and Generalitogether with the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), signed today a three-year memorandum of understanding to promote, enhance and disseminate greater awareness of cyber risks and their impact on business among SMEs. ACN's participation will give a decisive impetus to the dissemination among companies of the culture of cyber protection, an objective at the heart of the partnership already initiated between Generali and Confindustria.

The Covid-19 context has indeed accelerated the digital transformation processes in small and medium-sized companies, which were initiated to ensure production continuity and facilitate remote working. A process that has increased the demand for all digital services and consequently necessitated a rapid implementation in the protection against cyber security risks.

In this context, it is increasingly important to acquire adequate knowledge of the possible risks for SMEs and, at the same time, to increase the level of protection of digital assets, data and corporate culture.

The Protocol also envisages the creation of the 'Cyber Index SMEs', a real report that photographs the state of cyber security awareness within small and medium-sized business organisations. This report represents, also on a methodological level, the first piece of the future Italian Cyber Index, as envisaged by the National Cybersecurity Strategy, the national index that will feed the European Cyber Index. "Cyber Index SMEs" will be developed with the contribution of the Cybersecurity & Data Protection Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, scientific partner of the initiative.

In addition, with a view to implementing knowledge and awareness of risks related to cyber threats, training meetings and workshops are planned on a territorial basis for Confindustria member companies with the involvement of ACN and Generali experts, as well as the agency network.