And Nunzia Ciardi , senior executive of the State Police and director of the Postal and Communications Police Service, the number two of the National Cybersecurity Agency headed by Professor Roberto Baldoni , who at the beginning of August was appointed Deputy Director General of the Department of safety information. And what was decided today by the Council of Ministers chaired by Mario Draghi .
Four years ago it was the then Chief of Police, Franco Gabrielli , who chose her to lead the Postal Police after the revocation of Roberto Di Legamifollowing the investigation into cyber espionage that led to the arrest of the Occhionero brothers. It was Gabrielli himself, today a delegated authority, who carried out his candidacy for the role of deputy director of the new agency he wanted with the aim of separating cyber-intelligence and cyber-resilience.
Annunziata Ciardi known as Nunzia, from Rome with Neapolitan roots, 61 years old, has two children and a veterinary husband. “Never once did she complain that I was late for work, never once did she fail me to support her. I really feel privileged ”, she told Famiglia Cristiana four years ago, a few days after her settlement in the glass building of the Postal Police. She plays the guitar.
She joined the police in 1987 after graduating in law, convinced by her father to participate in a competition to become a commissioner. As a girl, “I was more in the company of Thomas Mann and [ Italo ] Calvino , than the myth of winning detectives”, she confessed in an interview on Friday a few months ago.
Being a woman penalized her in professional opportunities
“I don’t think so”, he replied to Famiglia Cristiana. “Without prejudice to the fact that you can be more or less good managers as men or women, I believe that there is a decline in female and male roles: in some fields the female adds, in others it takes away, the balance is balanced”. In particular, she said, “I think that being a woman in this role breaks down a bit the prejudice according to which technology is masculine and this makes me happy”. Also for this reason she is a member of the board of Women4Cyber, an initiative aimed at implementing the involvement of women in the cyber security sector at European level.
“My house is a bustle of parcels”, Ciardi told Repubblica four years ago. As a demonstration of the fact that it is always connected, via smartphone, for work but also a little for fun and curiosity (“if a new App comes out, I’ll try it”, he said to Famiglia Cristiana), to check e-mails, book holidays and shopping.
Cyberterrorism, financial cybercrime, on-line child pornography, protection of national critical IT infrastructures, hacking and computer crimes in general: these are the challenges that the units coordinated by the Postal Police face.
Even more complex challenges since the pandemic has changed our habits and our online presence. “The surface area that we previously used on the web for the bare essentials has expanded. And the exponential increase contrasts with the contraction of physical crimes ”, explained Ciardi on Friday. “This does not mean that the Internet must be demonized, with its extraordinary potential and the enormous benefit for many who have been able to work and study from home, but that we must use it with more prudence”.
Current words also in the days in which, after the attack against the IT systems of the Lazio Region, we are witnessing a debate in which the shooting at smart-working is in fashion. A bit like saying that to stop motorway accidents, cars should be banned, he ironizedFlavia Fratello , La7 journalist, on Twitter.
What attacks
“During the pandemic there was plenty of choice,” she told Formiche.net a few days ago, before the Lazio case. “Among the most insidious are the attacks set up through ransomware, a malware that is installed and instantly encrypts all of the victim’s data. Not only have they increased in quantity, they have also become more sophisticated. Initially they took the form of intensive fishing: criminal organizations spread the malware hoping to obtain the ransom of the data ”.
Before coming to the direction of the Postal Police, Ciardi was a director of the Postal Police and Telecommunications Department of the Lazio Region, dealing with cyberbullying and crimes via the web, such as sextorsion. But also of training and prevention, missions that she has carried out in recent years with teaching at various police schools, at the Carabinieri Officers school, at the Centro Alti Studi per la Difesa, as well as at various universities and institutions and as author of books and scientific publications relating to cybercrime. The last one is aimed in particular at young people: “Use your head with your smartphone” (Sperling & Kupfer).
He leaves the leadership of 2,000 units, 20 regional compartments and 80 provincial sections ready to become one of the pillars of Public Security: abandoning the period name that refers to the Post Office, it will become part of the new Central Directorate of Scientific Police and Cyber Security.
