Cybersicurezza e fiscalità: un necessario (ma incerto) ripensamento delle categorie nel tempo della “guerra ibrida”

Abstract

Cybersecurity and taxation: a necessary (but uncertain) rethinking of categories in the age of “hybrid warfare”
This paper analyses the role of taxation as a tool for promoting cybersecurity amongst small and medium-sized enterprises, starting from the observation that the current regulatory approach – based predominantly on obligations and penalties – is insufficient to foster the effective spread of a culture of cybersecurity. After outlining the risks associated with hybrid warfare, data protection, economic stability and the vulnerability of SMEs, the paper examines the main economic and fiscal incentive measures adopted under Italian law and in other jurisdictions, highlighting their limitations and potential. It argues that cybersecurity may constitute, at least in its systemic dimension, a public good and a collective interest, the protection of which requires shared responsibility between the State and economic operators. From this perspective, the paper proposes a reflection on the use of taxation not only as a means of providing incentives, but also as an educational and solidarity-based tool, capable of guiding behaviour and sharing the costs of security. In this sense, the notion of “ability to pay” should probably be re-examined, placing greater value on new forms of benefit linked to membership of the community and the enjoyment of essential public goods, in exceptional contexts characterised by serious collective risks.