The Registro .it took part in WMF 2026 with the aim it’s always had: contributing to the dissemination of digital culture, promoting the value of the .it domain as a distinctive element of the Italian digital identity and strengthening dialogue with companies, professionals, Registrars and operators in the sector. It did so through an exhibition booth and two discussion sessions focusing on some of the key issues that are reshaping the future of the web: cybersecurity and the evolution of the role of domain names in the era of artificial intelligence. Two different appointments but with the same question at the core: how is the digital ecosystem in which companies and professional work changing today?
The first session was dedicated to the NIS2 Directive, entitled “Cybersecurity and NIS2: from compliance to European digital resilience”: an issue that is also of particular interest to the Registro.it, given the strategic role it plays in the management of the .it national domain and the services associated with it.
Chiara Spinelli, Head of the Communication and External Relations Unit of the Registro .it, interviewed Andrea Rigoni, Founder and Managing Partner of Altirium, on the path that public and private organisations are called upon to take on in order to strengthen their ability to react and adapt to cyber threats.
The discussion revealed that NIS2 represents much more than a set of regulatory requirements. The directive requires a paradigm shift: compliance with rules is a starting point but security must become an integral part of the business’s strategy, strengthening their ability to prevent, deal with and overcome cyber incidents, by ensuring continuity of services.
Particular attention has been devoted to the role of management, which assesses risks and makes strategic decisions involving governance, processes, people and supply chains. A journey that involves large companies, SMEs, public entities, the entire supply chain of Registrars and Internet infrastructure operators, each with different needs and levels of complexity, but all united by the need to develop a true culture of resilience.
Then the focus turned to artificial intelligence and its impact on cybersecurity. While AI provides increasingly powerful tools for strengthening defences and supporting attack detection, it also offers cybercriminals new possibilities for detecting vulnerabilities and automating attacks. This evolution makes it even more important to adopt a dynamic security approach that can quickly adapt to evolving threats.
The second session, entitled “From the data to the strategy: the survey of the Registro .it on the future of domains”, deepened understanding of the evolution of domain names in the era of AI, with the presentation of a research study, currently underway, conducted by The Fool for the Registro .it, which analyses how the role and perception of domains in the digital ecosystem are changing. As
Chiara Spinelli explained, the goal of this research is to understand - through data and analyses - how the behaviour of companies, professionals and citizens is changing and how the role of the .it domain is evolving in the current digital landscape, increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence and new ways of finding information and building online presence.
The research, illustrated by Mirko Bruni, CEO of The Fool, and Alessandra Scomparin, the company’s Senior Market Consultant, combines listening to supply chain stakeholders and analysing online conversations, search engines, and key AI models to achieve quantitative validation on citizens, professionals and micro-enterprises.
Among the study’s initial insights, the .it domain continues to be associated with values such as identity, trustworthiness, and a sense of belonging to the local territory. At the same time, analytics demonstrate that major AI systems tend to prioritise content hosted on domains consistent with the local language and national context, strengthening the role of the proprietary website as a benchmark for the digital identity.
The two meetings highlighted some of the major transformations taking place in the digital world: from the evolution of cybersecurity to the role of domain names in a landscape increasingly shaped by AI. Topics that confirm the importance of fostering an increasingly conscious digital culture and strengthening the value of digital identity as a strategic element of online trust and recognition.
The full recordings of the two meetings will be available in the coming days on the social channels of the Registro .it.