Joint Cybernetic Operations Command (Italy)

The Joint Cybernetic Operations Command (Comando Interforze Operazioni Cibernetiche, CIOC) is an Italian cyberwarfare military unit.

History
The project of an Italian cyber command, modelled on the United States Cyber Command, was envisaged in 2015 Defence White Paper. The Joint Cybernetic Operations Command is intended to achieve initial operational capability by the end of 2017 and full operational capability by 2019.

Tasks
The Joint Cybernetic Operations Command has tasks in the areas of information security, computer network operations, cyber warfare and cyber security. It is designed to be a force provider.

The Command supports and protects military operations, conducts offensive operations, and functions as coordinating body between the Italian Armed Forces and other Italian cyber security institutions such as State Police CNAIPIC (Centro Anticrimine Informatico per la Protezione delle Infrastrutture Critiche, Critical Facilities Anti-Informatic Crime Protection Centre), the public admninistration CERT and the national CERT.

According to Defence Undersecretary Gioacchino Alfano, the Command is intended to operate mainly in joint, inter-agency and NATO contexts, as well as in coordination with university and economic worlds.

Organization
The Command is directly dependent on the Chief of the Defence Staff Defence Staff of the Italian Armed Forces; in particular, it depends on the Deputy Commander for Operations.

The Joint Cybernetic Operations Command consists of the Command and staff element, of the personnel section, of the operational unit, of the training unit (the cyber branch of the TLC School in Chiavari), and of the experimental unit tasked to study malaware and countermeasures.

The Command is to recruit also personnel not part of the military.

The operational unit handles the Cyber Operational Cells, which are the actual operational pawns; those cells are tasked to operate on the field under the field commander, who may employ them in order to achieve his or her operational goals.

The Command is located near the military intelligence service Centro Intelligence Interforze in Castel Malnome near Rome, not far from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.