Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto called for a broader national security response Saturday, warning that cognitive warfare was being overlooked as attention to cyber risks grows.
Crosetto described the threat as efforts to influence the information people receive and the choices they make. He said it can involve manipulated information, as well as personal data, profiling and neuroscience used to influence behavior. He also pointed to hostile actors’ growing reach in digital spaces.
Crosetto said cyber vulnerabilities have drawn broader attention only recently, even though he has raised concerns about hybrid warfare for four years. He urged officials to anticipate risks rather than wait until they emerge, and to make hostile operations harder to carry out.
On X, he wrote, “Let’s stop chasing threats and start anticipating them.” He said security should be treated as an immediate national priority.
The warning follows Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s call for the armed forces to adapt to cyber operations and disinformation.
