CHAPTER 1 THE NATURE AND THE EVOLVING TRENDS OF THE CYBER THREAT AND OF THE VULNERABILITIES OF THE NATIONAL ICT INFRASTRUCTURES Introduction solutions, even in the most advanced countries, is not an easy task, and it requires a broad involvement of the private sector. The private sector, in fact, has a key role to play in coming up with possible solutions to cope with the new challenges and threats stemming from the cyberspace which for the most part it owns and operates. The private sector therefore has the interest and the duty to agree with the public sector on mutual expectations and responsibilities in ensuring the protection of cyberspace. Cyberspace has become a domain of strategic importance for the economic, social and cultural development of nations, and it is hence critical to balance the right mix of pubic and private engagement in its governance and management, taking into account at the same time the requirements of national security and public order as well as the fulfillment of all the individual and economic liberties involved. Balancing these often diverging objectives is a complex endeavor, if one considers for instance how monitoring the technical functionality of networks is essential to allow the fulfillment of the right to privacy and the integrity of one’s Definition With the term cyberspace we refer to the complex of all interconnected ICT hardware and software infrastructure, to all data stored in and transferred through the networks and all connected users, as well as to all logical connections however established among them. It therefore encompasses the Internet and all communication cables, networks and connections that support information and data processing, including all mobile Internet devices. A complex challenge The very same nature of cyberspace and the related transformation of contemporary societies brought about by the digital ecosystem are accountable for the emergence of unprecedented cultural, social and political issues, which require a set of coherent, effective and in many cases original solutions. As the International Community is still very much divided with regard to the principles and values that apply to the cyber domain, seeking these 11