On November 9 and 10, 2022, NATO's 2022 Cyber Defense Pledge Conference will take place in Rome, at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The event is co-hosted by Italy and the United States with the support of the NATO International Staff.
At the Madrid Summit in June, Allies reaffirmed that resilience is a national responsibility and a collective commitment. Allies pledged to accelerate development in all domains, including by boosting resilience to cyber and hybrid threats. The Summit also acknowledged energy security as a top priority. Finally, Allies decided, on a voluntary basis and using national assets, to build and exercise a virtual rapid response cyber capability to respond to significant malicious cyber activities.
Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine has emphasized once again the overwhelming impact of the cyber dimension on our security and the imperative of cyber preparedness. The Conference in Rome will focus on "Resilience, Preparedness and Responsiveness to Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure." Allies will discuss these and other crucial topics, with a view to increase cyber resilience both at the national level and as an Alliance.
The Conference will consist of two segments. During the first segment, Allies, at the Permanent Representative level, will discuss the key pillars of NATO's effort to counter cyber threats: threat analysis, resilience, and response. In the second segment, national cyber leaders and experts will convene panels to focus on protecting the energy sector from cyber threats and ensuring the NATO Cyber Defense Pledge keeps pace with the evolving cyber threat landscape.
The conference is closed to the public. On November 10, the following keynote addresses will be live-streamed on YouTube:
- at 9.00am keynote addresses by Edmondo Cirielli, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, and Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies, National Security Council, The White House;
- at 10:30am keynote address from Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General.
