With the digitization of society, has cyber risk increased?
Completely. It’s almost a truism to say so. Today, no profession, no sector of activity is immune to failure due to a cyber attack. This was not the case ten years ago. Especially in industry.
Have the threats evolved?
Threats evolve all the time and very quickly. This is also one of the difficulties in cybersecurity. Very well equipped, financed by ransomware or the resale of stolen data – today, cyberattacks bring in more money than drug trafficking – the cyber attacker, who generally knows very well the security flaws of the systems to which he attacks, often takes advantage of the defender.
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Is the culture of cyber risk better integrated by companies today?
No. Globally, there is certainly an awareness of cyber risk, but individually business leaders find it difficult to measure the risks to which their companies are exposed. On this question, there is therefore a real need for awareness-raising, for evangelization of the executive committees of companies. The whole difficulty lies in the financial quantification of the losses. However, as long as a business leader cannot quantify his losses due to a cyber attack, he will not tackle the problem head-on, convinced that it will not happen to him.
If you had to take out a priority action to protect yourself, what would you advise?
For an SME that is especially at risk of being the target of a ransomware attack, the first response is backup. Large accounts are working against more advanced attacks.
What will the Cyber Campus inaugurated today by President Emmanuel Macron bring?
It is important that we find in the same place the different actors of the French digital ecosystem, even European. That companies – large groups such as start-ups – share information, work together, including with research centers is a real step forward.
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