Ravenna, president Andrea Farina and the growth of Itway: 120 employees and 45 million turnover

Emilia Romagna | 03 February 2023

Elena Nencini
A company that, from Ravenna, has also conquered the international market, while maintaining its core business in the Byzantine city: today, Itway has 120 employees and collaborators, with around 45 million euros in revenue, and its market is across all sectors.
Andrea Farina, founder and president of the Itway Group, speaks about cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
President Farina, what exactly does Itway do?
“Informatics! We help companies with what is known as digital transformation, and since 1996, we have specialized in IT security—today known as Cyber Security—Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science.”
Why did you choose to be based in Ravenna, despite the company now having significant importance overseas?
“Because I am from Ravenna, or more precisely, ‘ravegnano’! For the type of business we do, we could be anywhere—over 95% of our clients are outside the region, and 85% are outside Italy. As the saying goes, ‘nemo propheta in patria’ (no one is a prophet in their own land), but we also strive to promote and grow our local professional excellence.”
Has the pandemic affected your work, for example, by increasing it?
“We have grown, but without the pandemic and especially without the Ukraine conflict, we could have grown much more.”
Our world is increasingly online; what are the new frontiers of cybersecurity?
“In 2022, cyberattacks increased by 38% compared to 2021. Today, we are detecting an average of about 40 million attacks per day, around 15 billion in a year. The question everyone should be asking is not if I will be attacked, but when I will be attacked. The attacks come from everywhere: malware, email attachments, web pages, pop-ups, social engineering, phishing, and more.”
Which sectors are the most vulnerable to hacking today?
Public administration, schools, universities, healthcare, and private industry/services.
What are the frontiers of artificial intelligence?
“There are many, so many. We make extensive use of AI in a product we are launching on the market, protected by a patent, called Icoy Mover. It’s a solution designed to prevent workplace accidents caused by crushing due to load drops from cranes (overhead cranes, etc.), or by being hit by moving machinery such as forklifts, bulldozers, etc. It’s important to know that the official data, just for Italy, shows over 1,000 workplace deaths each year, and 19% of these are due to crushing. Icoy is a highly innovative product that didn’t exist before. Through the Artificial Intelligence that powers its software—Icoy AI—the solution can recognize dangerous situations and trigger appropriate alarms to prevent creating hazardous conditions, thus protecting workers. However, artificial intelligence can also be used for criminal purposes with the phenomenon known as ‘deepfake,’ where fake videos can be created that seem real—like the videos made as jokes by Striscia la Notizia—but also audio imitations of voices that sound 100% real. These could be the new frontiers of cyberattacks.”