Tough times are ahead for hacking: twenty-five new bloodhounds will soon be on the trail of perpetrators of crimes that increasingly put at risk data and infrastructures essential to the activities of Public Administrations and important private production companies. 

In fact, the two-year course in Cybersecurity in PA promoted and implemented by Fitstic, an ITS Foundation that operates in the ICT sector in Emilia-Romagna, kicked off last March 30. 

Inside Lepida’s headquarters, 18 boys and 7 girls, selected among over 70 candidates from all over the country, and with an average age of 27 years, lined up at the starting ribbons of the first edition. 

A commitment of 2,000 hours (40 percent of which will be in the form of internships) is planned. 

The course is part of an agreement between the Emilia-Romagna Region and the National Cybersecurity Agency, and relies on the scientific direction and teaching by well-known experts in countering computer piracy. 

It was presented on April 4 2023, during the signing of the memorandum of understanding that commits the Region, the Municipality of Bologna, the Metropolitan City of Bologna, the Municipality of Imola and Lepida to jointly announce, once the training course has been completed, a competition for the inclusion in their staffs of "experts in security for IT applications and infrastructures in PA," which will require as mandatory for participation the ITS diploma issued at the end of the course. 

Regione Emilia-Romagna has co-financed Fitstic's initiative with about 300,000 euros of ESF Plus funds, which aims to respond to the needs of the digitized world and create quality employment, through a course that will see the 25 participants confronted daily with cybersecurity, vulnerability assessment, secure software design and development, as well as integration with platforms made available by AgID.