In a context of growing digitalisation of the economy, the issue of IT security for citizens and businesses comes to the fore. The latest data processed by the Lapam Confartigianato research office relating to the crimes reported by the police forces to the judicial authorities in 2022 show a trend growth in the number of victims of cybercrimes of 9.2% in Emilia-Romagna, the second most marked increase after the Marche (+9.7%) compared to -1.6% nationally.
In 87.4% of cases these are victims of scams and computer fraud, such as phishing and the theft of money during online payments, while the remaining 12.6% are victims of computer crimes, which include the theft of data for blackmail or to sell on the dark web and the interruption of services and websites.
At a regional level, 38.1% of micro and small businesses that invest in cybersecurity consider it to be of high importance for carrying out their business, with a growth of 2.3 percentage points compared to the previous year (35.8%) . In Reggio Emilia, in 2023, 38.7% of micro and small businesses invested in digital security: a figure that makes the Reggio Emilia area the third province in the Region, behind Bologna and Parma.
«Awareness raising is a fundamental aspect – explains Gilberto Luppi, president of Lapam Confartigianato –. In 2022, 35.4% of micro and small businesses in Reggio Emilia had already invested with interventions in the sector and in 2023 the figure increased by almost 3 percentage points. Like Lapam we also organize information sessions for data protection in the digital age, making our experts available to offer companies all the tools necessary to defend themselves from cyber attacks”.
