Registrations are open
September 2023
Purposes
The aim of the 2nd level Master in Intelligence Specialist is to provide the candidates with the knowledge and skills required to compete with the difficult challenges posed by the intelligence and security sectors in the contemporary reality.
The Master in Inteligence Specialist offers a path dedicated to vocational study based on the concept of engineering of information resulting from scientific, technological, behavioural, legal and investigative knowledge, for the purpose of providing the students with the tools needed to produce multifactorial response to various needs in terms of risk management, security, investigations and applied intelligence.
The knowledge acquired will be inter-disciplinary and multi-applicational. The candidates will address different current and future needs in a simulated manner whether they are related to new technologies (ICT) and their correct use and interface, or to the management of risks on a micro and macro, to threat to individuals, businesses, Public Administrations, critical infrastructures, acquiring informations and proceeding with the evaluation with the purpose of producing the correctr tools for the management of criticalities.
The contribution of the investigative, juridical, tactical, technological and psychological-behavioural disciplines will enable the students to respond holistically to the newest demands.
The Master is especially useful for FFPP operators and for security and Military Corps, as well as operators of the Public Administrations, especially in the light of Decree-Law n. 80/2021, which completely modified and simplified the activity of programmation of the public administrations establishing the PIAO (Piano unico Integrato di Attività e Organizzazione).
One of the chapters of the PIAO deals with the "performance" of the public administrations, namely the strategic and operational guidelines and objectives, as well as the indicators for the evaluation of the performance itself. Therefore, said "performance plan" required a constant intelligence activity, intended as the ability to gather, understand and analyze the exogenous risk factor of the Public Administrators which may affect the outcome of the Plan itself.
Target students and career opportunities
Target students
The purpose of the Master in Intelligence Specialist is to train professional experts in the field, skilled in the analysis and the management of risks in terms of security and intelligence activity. The course is aimed at candidates already operating in the field and at candidates willing to train as analysts and experts in the field, in line with the international standards.
Career opportunities
The Master is a highly professionalizing learning pathway, an excellent course for all the cadidates willing to work in the Italian intelligence.
Upon completion of the Master, the students may aspire to the following professions:
- Executives and managers in Authorities and National Agencies, at the Bank of Italy, at the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, structures and/or societies controlled and/or participated by the Public Administration;
- Officers for regional, provincial and municipal administrations;
- Operators in strategic enterprises and crytical infrastructures, operators in the arms industry, experts in security technologies and in charge of corporate security;
- Specialists and researchers in internal and foreign policy, diplomacy, international relations, geopolitics, strategic affairs and European studies, national security, fight against international organised crime and anti-laundering.
Admission
Applicants to the Master must have attained a Specialist Degree, a Master's Degree, and/or a Degree of the Old System, obtained at a University of the Italian Republic; as well as another equivalent Higher Institute, or a degree attained at an International University, provided that said Degree Title is legally recognized in Italy.
The candidates in possession of an acamic title obtained abroad must be in possession of the declaration of value of the aforementioned qualification, issued by the competent Italian diplomatic or consular representatives of the country in which they obtained the qualification.
All the aforementioned requirements must be demonstrated within the deadlines provided in the Academic Regulations, under penalty of non-admission to the Master's selection test.
Tuition
The annual tuition, without tax benefits, for the registration to the Master is € 10.000
Registration
Students wishing to enrol may request an appointment with the Guidance Office by calling +39 06 3400 6000
Internal Faculty
The internal Faculty is comprised of more than 70% of professors with over-five-year professional experience on the subject matter.
Scientific director
Paolo Poletti
Currently President of Sicuritalia Security Solutions, a company of the Sicuritalia, specialuzed in business economy and security intelligence, in investigations against industrial espionage and in logical and cyber security.
Previously, he served in the Financial Police for 34 years and reached the rank of general of division. In 1978 he graduated at the Financial Corps Academy.
He was appointed Commander of the Tax Police Unit in Rome, and Deputy Chief and Chief of Staff at the General Headquarters.
In 2008, he was appointed deputy director of the Agency for Information and Internal Security, where he served until June 2015. Between June 2015 and January 2017 he held the position of deputy director of the Agency for Information and External Security.
In March this year, he took up his position at Securitalia Security Solutions.
He attended the Advanced Course in Tax Police for the Financial Police; he graduated in Political Science at the State University of Milan and in Economic and Financial Security Science at the University of Rome 'Tor Vergata'.
Current role: president of Sicuritalia Security Solutions; adjunct professor at Link Campus University.
Professors
Michele Pigliucci
Michele Pigliucci is associate professor of economic and political Geography at Link Campus University.
In 2014, he attained a PhD in Culture and Territory at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, where he was assigned 5 research grants and worked as adjunct professor of "GIS-STeMA Cartography" and “Economics and European Territorial Planning”.
He was adjunct professor of Tourism Geography at the University of Sassari, and held various teaching assignments at eCampus University.
He won a european selection for the research activity in the field of Economic Geography and participated to various national (PRIN, DTC Lazio) and European (ESPON, Europe for citizens, Erasmus +, ENPI CBC MED) projects, where he held positions of responsibility.
He authored monographies and scientific articles on themes of geopolitics (with particular reference to the European area, the Balkans and the Slavic world), territorial cohesion, regional development policies, with particular reference to the italian harbour system, as well as to the History of Geographical Thought.
He collaborates with the Foundation Ugo Spirito e Renzo De Felice, which he directed between 2018 and 2020.
He is a member of the editorial board of the “Annali della Fondazione Ugo Spirito”, Area 11 - scientific magazine.
In 2020, he attained the National scientific qualification for second-rank professor in the sector 11/B1 – Geography.
Current role: associate professor of economic and political Geography at Link Campus University.
Maurizio Zandri
Maurizio Zandri graduated in Sociology in Rome with a final dissertation on urban conflicts.
In 1974, he was a scholarship recipient at the Italian School of the History of Economic Thought, directed by Claudio Napoleoni. In the 1970s and 1980s, he gained experience in political and social movements and organisations.
He started his journalistic activity in the same years, first with newspapers and political radio, then in the early 1980s with La Repubblica.
In 1983 he joined Censis as researcher and subsequently he became a manager of SPS, a public majority shareholding company providing assistance and services to Autonomies. In the 1990s, he was CNEL's expert on metropolitan areas, local authorities and administrative decentralisation.
He edited the 'Report on State transfers to local authorities' for the Ministry of the Interior.
Most importantly, he is editor and, for the most part, editor for 15 annual editions of the 'Report on the State of Local Authorities and Services' in Italy.
Since 2000, he has coordinated numerous high-level training projects as General Director of Sudgest and then SudgestAid, especially in the water, environmental sectors and local development sector (Territorial Pacts, PITs, etc.).
He works in Castelvolturno, Gioia Tauro, Corleone, Monreale, S. Giuseppe Iato, Lula and other centres, for training projects, recovery of legality and for the management of assets confiscated from the mafias.
ince 2004, his activity has been particularly focused abroad where, with SudgestAid and on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other international organisations, he carries out assistance and training projects in Crisis and Post-Conflict Areas: Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Ethiopia.
Since 2010 he has been Adjuct Professor; and since 2015 Extraordinary Professor on International Politics and Sociology of Conflict at Link Campus University.
Current role: coordinator of the Master's Degree in Strategic Studies and Diplomatic Science.
Paola Giannetakis
Expert in Behavioural Science and Technologies Applied to Intelligence and Cybersecurity.
University professor, with extensive experience in the field of teaching, as well as in the coordination of academic programmes, research activities and international projects. She is member of the Academic Senate and director of the research department. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors of Leonardo SPA, one of the leading companies in the sectors of space defense and cybersecurity. Director of Academic Masters in the field of Cybersecurity and Intelligence since 2015.
Author, advisor, consultant and speaker.
Vladimiro Giacchè
Academic Studies: Pisa and Bochum (Federal Germany). Laureato e perfezionato in Filosofia alla Scuola Normale. Graduated and Specialized in Philosophy at the "Scuola Normale" in Pisa.
Profession: Manager in the financial sector.
In november 2007, he became partner of Sator, a financial group founded and directed by Matteo Arpe.
He is president of the Centro Europa Ricerche, member of the Board of Directors of Banca Profilo and Internal Audit Manager for Arepo BP.
Hobby: reading and writing (in that order). In the latest years he published La fabbrica del falso. Strategie della menzogna nella politica contemporanea (Imprimatur, 2016), Costituzione italiana contro trattati europei. Il conflitto inevitabile (Imprimatur, 2015), Anschluss. L’annessione. L’unificazione della Germania e il futuro dell’Europa (Imprimatur, 2013; ed. ted. 2014, ed. franc. 2015), Titanic Europa. La crisi che non ci hanno raccontato (Aliberti 2012, ed. ted. 2013).
Ha curato e tradotto Karl Marx, Il capitalismo e la crisi (Derive Approdi 2009).
He curated and translated the volume Karl Marx, Il capitalismo e la crisi (Derive Approdi 2009).
He is columnist for Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Current role: communication and strategic marketing manager for Banca del Fucino (Banking Group Igea Banca).
Giantelemaco Perticarà
Between 1999 and 2005 he was Chief of the Civil Protection and Chief of Local Police at Città di Civitavecchia.
He is a member of the teaching staff of the II level interdepartmental Master in Criminology - Investigation - Security - Intelligence at the University of Rome "La Sapienza".
He is a lecturer at Italian training schools for the subject of subsidiary security in the field of transport, as well as a trainer of technical managers and security guards employed in subsidiary security services in ports, railways, subways and urban line services.
He is certified Maritime Security instructor.
Current role: director responsible for security of the Port System Authority of the North Central Tyrrhenian Sea, Ports of Civitavecchia, Fiumicino and Gaeta.
Luisa Franchina
Electronic engineer; PhD and post PhD in Electroni Engineering (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) and Master in Geopolitics (IASD) at the Centro Alti Studi Difesa.
She attained the CBRN military qualification at the Rieti School.
She worked as a researcher in various international universities and as a consultant in Spain.
She was director general of the Segreteria per le Infrastrutture Critiche (Presidency of Council of Ministers 2010-2013), director general of the Operational Unit for nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological attacks (Department of Civil Protection 2006‐2010) and director general of the "Istituto Superiore delle Comunicazioni e delle Tecnologie dell’Informazione" (Ministry of Communication 2003‐2006).
Recently, she founded a company that provides services related to the management of information and risk management.
Member of the teaching staff of various masters in Safety italian universities (Sapienza, Tor Vergata, SIOI ‐ Scuola della Farnesina, Campus Biomedico, Bocconi, Università di Milano, ecc.)
He published various articles and volumes on themes related to security and Critical Infrastructure Protection.
Current role: recently, she founded a company that provides services related to the management of information and risk management.
PROGRAMME
Unit 1 – Intelligence and threats
50 HOURS
- Programming principles in the Public Administration and Companies
- Principles of intelligence
- The main geopolitical dynamics that may affect the Italian system and the Italian System and the Intelligence
- Economic - financial risks
- National and trans-national organized crime
- National and international terrorism
- Cyber risks: participants, tools objectives
- Management and resolution of conflicts
- Security and Privacy in the technology era
- Security and Safety: principles of macro-organization for Public Administrations and companies
Unit 2 – Behavioral Sciences & Social Dynamics
50 HOURS
- Applied Cognitive Science
- Cyber and Social Media Psychology
- Radicalization and extremism
- Medical Intelligence
- Mind Control
- Negotiation
- Emergency and Crowd Management
- Leadership
- The main social dynamics characterizing the italian and european context
Unit 3 – Investigative Intelligence and security
60 HOURS
- Defensive investigations and Forensic Intelligence
- Counter-Proliferation
- Economic and industrial espionage. Cyber espionage
- Industrial Counter-espionage
- Investigative Techniques
- Risk management, assessment and security plan
Unit 4 – Human Intelligence – Humint
50 HOURS
- Human Intelligence: intelligence operational techniques and counterintelligence
- Deception
- Targeting and Countertargeting
- Covert and Virtual Humint
Unit 5 – Business Intelligence
50 HOURS
- OSINT and SOCMINT
- Social Media Intelligence
- Techniques of structural analysis
- Economic intelligence
- Due diligence
- Tavel security and country risk
- Social engineering
- Deep and Dark web
- Cyber risk
- Neuro-cyber and neuro-warfare convergence
- "Critical infrastructures" and business continuity
- Cyber Threat Intelligence
Unit 6 – Information Security Management
60 HOURS
- The role of the information Security Manager
- Governance
- Security Risk Management, Controls, and Audit Management
- Security Program Management and Operations
- Information Security Core Concepts
- Strategic Planning, Finance, and Vendor Management
- Legislation on Cybersecurity
- The National Framework for Cyber Security and Data Protection and the National Strategy for Cybersecurity 2022-2026
- Italian Organization for Cybersecurity
Follow-up workshop activities - Operational practical workshops
40 HOURS
Cyber Attack Response
- Cyber Attacks; Ransomware Group; definition of SOC; the Lapsus$ Okta case; Mitre Att&CK; tools for SOC; andbox Lab; EDR;
- Shodan.io Lab; Real Phishing Case Analysis
- Why is it important to raise awareness, inform and understand these themes?
- General overview on OSINT and discussion: what's OSINT? Who uses it?
- The relationship between OSINT and Cybersecurity
What kind of attacks may be initiated upon researching on OSINT?
- Information deemed "non-sensitive" but actually sensitive
- Personal data on social networks or online: how can they compromise a company's security?
Interactive OSINT Online
- Session 1: introduction
- Session 2: setup for OSINT research
- Session 3: research Database & Web
- Session 4: DNS Records
- Follow-up conversation on Data Breach Search Engines
- Types of research: who uses them?
- Testing tools: Data Breach Search Engine
- Check Leaked
- We Leak Info
- Follow-up conversation on Google Dork: what is it?
- Why is it useful?
- Testing tools: Google Dork
- Types of research
- Session 5: Archived Google pages
- Session 6: Social Media
- Testing tools: Way Back Machine
Follow-up conversation: social engineering attacks aimed at the malicious introduction in private information systems
- Discussion on cyber attacks occurred in the past
- Session 7: Image Information
- Session 8: Online Forum
- Discussion on Online community: Raid Forums
- Discussion on Interactive OSINT
- Opinions
- Improvements
- Application to the real world
- Discussion on the possible OSIN vulnerabilities of the participants
- Discussion on the possible security measures to be implemented
Interactive OSINT created specifically for the course
- The candidates will be tested: they must hack an e-mail address. You do not know the owner's name and password
- Test of the group participants on the proposed case study
- Final discussion
Project work
15 CFU
Each candidate of Master's Degree is required to prepare a professional training Project Work consistent with the topics covered by the course.
Said Project Work is an integral part of the Master's teaching activity, and is subject to assessment, providing 15 university training credits (CFU).
The aim of the final project is to submit one or more innovative and/or improving solutions through an in-depth study of context variables, processes and application models. The project may involve either the innovation of an activity, or the setting up or changing of an organisational structure, or even the improvement of a new operational procedure or the development of a new process. The PW can be individual or group: in the latter case, the individual contribution will be subject to specific evaluation.
The candidates will be required to take a final test at the end of each Unit. The grade attained for each test (expressed in thirtieths) will be an integral part of the final grade of the Master.