"During 2022, the Italian authorities gradually increased the monitoring and surveillance of underwater infrastructure in their territorial waters. The goal is to prevent and mitigate potential sabotage actions, not only against energy infrastructure originating in North Africa, but also against telecommunications submarine cables." This is stated in the Eurispes Italy 2023 Report. "The real risk of sabotage and damage to maritime telecommunications cables has led to an increase in the level of surveillance of some specific areas of Italian waters, such as the Strait of Sicily," explains the report, which adds: "To date, there is a limited variety of submarine cable landings that arrive or originate in Italy. These cables, totaling 25, are only found in eleven locations across the country. 60% of the infrastructure is concentrated in three cities: Mazara del Vallo, Catania, and Bari. The lack of diversification of Italian landings could be a critical issue for the security and continuity of the provided connections." As a result, "Italian infrastructure is vulnerable to at least three threats. The first is accidental damage caused by certain fishing techniques. The second type of sabotage occurs on land at cable docking points. Cyber attacks on the IT infrastructure of countries involved in the hybrid conflict with Moscow are a third threat."
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