Publisher: Mulhouse/South-Alsace – February 28, 2023
Director of Promovéo, Frédéric Spindler is immersed in digital technology, using it to improve business performance. Company manager, he is also elected CCI, deputy vice-president for the digitization of companies and he is one of the driving forces of the working group initiated by the CCI around cybersecurity, a real strategic challenge for companies. companies.
• Why is cybersecurity of concern to ICC?
Frédéric Spindler – We started from a simple observation… Companies today are not sufficiently aware. Many think they are not affected. However, the subject today is no longer whether the activity of the company is worth hacking. The motivations and the stakes are varied.
• What are the motivations of hackers?
Gambling, mafia-style extortion of money via cryptolockers which immobilize data in return for ransomware (a ransom), cyber espionage on high-potential companies, which develop patents and know-how on sensitive markets.
• Attacks can also take many forms…
Before, they concerned backups. Cryptolockers embedded systems with a dormant virus that could wake up at any time. Today, deepfakes have been developed, the manipulation by artificial intelligence of which fraud to the president is a part. The hacker identifies the person capable of making transfers, for example, before putting pressure on him by usurping the voice and even the image of the manager. The hacker goes through a phase of research and monitoring on social networks to identify the right person within the structure. If the economic impact is strong, it is also devastating from a human point of view.
• How can businesses protect themselves?
Never give and change your password regularly, protect yourself from fishing, these fictitious data recovery portals, ensure the maintenance of your systems by upgrading your computer software, worry about your backups by outsourcing them. Cybersecurity must also be taken globally. It no longer concerns only the computer tool, but all the connected devices of a company, from the postage meter, to the connected coffee machines, without forgetting the telephones…
• How does the ICC take hold of the subject today?
We have formed a group of business leaders. The challenge is to identify, together, the means of raising awareness among the various players in the area. There is real support to be achieved over the long term. The nature of attacks evolves, the type of risks too and we must therefore constantly adapt the response.
Interview by Emilie Jafrate
