Certified email accounts (PEC) in Italy are among the safest and malspam campaigns are decreasing: here’s why
Certified email (PEC) is an important and increasingly popular tool, thanks to the advantages offered by its legal validity. Like ordinary e-mail, PEC has also been the subject of campaigns for the spread of malware, also known as malspam, but in 2020 Italian certified mailboxes proved to be the safest.
The increase in the level of security is due to the joint action between the managers who offer certified e-mail services and CERT-AGID, the Computer Emergency Response Team of the Digital Agency for Italy. Working closely together, malspam campaigns conveyed via PEC in 2020 decreased by 90% compared to 2019. An important result, obtained thanks to initiatives implemented both in the short and medium to long term, which have prevented the spread of malware through PEC and allowed the prevention of improper or fraudulent use of this system.
PEC, what it is and why it is important to have it
PEC is gaining ground in Italy as a tool to send communications through an electronic mail system certified by the operators, which has the same legal validity as a registered letter with return receipt. The government has made PEC compulsory for professionals, companies and the Public Administration, so that it can be used to streamline official communications and bureaucracy.
Even private individuals can open a PEC box, even if they are not obliged to have it, and the advantages are many. In addition to saving time and money, having a PEC allows citizens to communicate easily with the Public Administration, the Inland Revenue, with companies to cancel subscriptions and contracts, up to validate agreements between individuals.
PEC in Italy more secure: here’s why
With the increasing diffusion of the opening and use of PEC boxes, this tool has also been inevitably targeted by cybercriminals, ready to use the system to spread computer viruses, such as malware and ransomware. For this reason, CERT-AgID in the last year has started a collaboration with the operators that offer PEC services to make them more secure and the results have arrived.
The initiatives implemented have allowed to contrast the malspam campaigns conveyed through PEC, so much so that these have decreased by 90% compared to the previous year. In the last 4 months, CERT-AgID has reported only one malspam campaign, aimed at spreading the sLoad malware, which was promptly intercepted and blocked thanks to the intervention of the operators, who intervened to stop the spread of the virus.
The next step in the ongoing synergy between CERT-AgID and operators will be to launch medium and long-term initiatives to make PEC in Italy an even safer tool, through vigilance functions and preventive security programs, which will allow to stop cyber threats before they can cause damage to users.