While Ukraine suffered a Russian cyberattack a week ago, France is strengthening its defense system. A cyber emergency center will be created in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, to protect communities and businesses, victims of various cyberattacks over the past two years.
As the European Union and France announce strong sanctions against Russia, should we fear reprisals in the form of a cyberattack? The threat is being seriously considered by the government, which has given instructions to raise the alert threshold to the highest level in all the services competent in cyber matters.
Just one week before the Russian invasion, on Tuesday February 15, Ukraine was the victim of several cyberattacks against two public banks whose online services were disrupted, and against the websites of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces. of the country, made totally inaccessible.
If for a few hours cyberterrorism has taken on another dimension with the war in Ukraine, the phenomenon is widely spread on French territory and on all scales. Attacks are carried out by isolated groups or individuals in order to demand a ransom.
In order to respond more effectively, the State has launched a vast decentralization operation, by launching the creation of cyber emergency centers in the regions. One of the first in France will open its doors in September 2022 in Burgundy. The agreement was signed on Thursday February 24 between the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, the Regional Digital Agency (ARNIA) and the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANNSI).
“Far from being abstract, cyber attacks have entered the daily life of local authorities and public establishments, such as hospitals (…), putting our most essential local public services in difficulty”, said the prefect of the region Fabien Sudry. Thus, this year on the national territory, the state services have noted a 225% increase in complaints for cyberattacks.
Far from being abstract, cyber attacks have become part of the daily life of local authorities and public establishments.
Fabien Sudry, prefect of Burgundy-Franche-Comté
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From 2019 to 2020, the number of ransomware attacks quadrupled. Today no one is safe, even the smallest structures are targeted, because they are often defenseless.
In Côte d’Or, it was the town hall of Nuits-Saint-Georges who paid the price. In November 2019 a malicious message appears on the screens: “We are with you. We have a virus that will gradually spread to all your computers. » The criminals demand a ransom of 2500 bitcoins, not much at the time, but the mayor refuses to pay. A misadventure that will have cost the community dearly. For four months, services are idling. Employees trade their computers for paper and pens.
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Today, all the computers have been changed, and the employees have changed their habits. “We no longer have servers, everything is up there in the cloud, it seems that it is better protected. There are codes on almost every post. We really manage to trace everything that happens, and for the moment it works” explains Alain Cartron mayor of Nuits-Saint-Georges.
Adopting good practices to avoid any cyber attack is precisely the objective of this future cyber emergency center (CSIRT). But unfortunately, prevention is not always enough. In the event of an attack, the CSIRT will provide immediate assistance to the victim communities or businesses.
“The first mission will be to provide them with first aid measures in terms of cybersecurity: what do I do right away when I notice that my computer is no longer working, that everything is frozen and that the am I being asked for a ransom? It will be immediate assistance, and we do not help an association like an industrial company, so we will have to find the right actors for each victim ”explains Emmanuel Naegelen, Deputy Director General of Information Systems Security (ANSSI).
Following the declaration of the incident, the CISRT will also be responsible for finding suitable contacts to accompany the victim, in order to file a complaint and repair the damage caused by the attack as quickly as possible. This center will therefore have a role of ” cell tower “ to federate the different actors of the territory. The creation of the CISRT is subsidized by the State, with an envelope of one million euros over three years, from 2022 to 2024.
Until its implementation in September 2022, cybersecurity advice is available on the site cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
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