Who are cyber attacks aimed at? What is cyber security for? What place for research in this field? Inria takes stock in an explanatory article, accessible to all.
What is cyber security?
Cyber security represents the development of technologies, processes and controls to protect systems, networks, programs, devices and data against potential digital attacks, with the aim of ensuring three properties of information, services and IT infrastructure: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
These increasingly innovative and numerous cyber attacks are mainly aimed at recovering sensitive information, modifying it or destroying it, but also to extort money or interrupt business processes.
Cyber security and digital security, what is the difference?
Many people use the two terms interchangeably as if they were interchangeable. If the difference between them does not seem obvious at first glance, it is nonetheless very real.
While cyber security generally focuses on the protection of digital infrastructure to prevent hackers from accessing sensitive data on a network, computer or program, digital safety refers to accidental threats, and focuses on protective mechanisms against them.
Why is cyber security a high-stakes area?
Digital has transformed our way of life, so much so that a large part of our life, personal and professional, takes place online. Every day, we conduct research, pay bills and make various purchases, or even exchange personal information in the digital world. Yet, as our digital footprint grows – exponentially – the risk of having our personal data compromised by a cyber attack increases.
These digital attacks can, at the individual level, lead to all kinds of consequences, from identity theft to extortion attempts to the loss of important data. Organizations, regardless of their size or status – public or private – are also the target of attacks every day, ranging from simple phishing emails to complex and detailed operations orchestrated by criminal gangs.
The risks are also major for States or operators of importance from a human and economic point of view. According to The hidden costs of cyber crime , a 2020 study by McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies ( CSIS ) , based on data collected by Vanson Bourne , the global economy would lose more than a trillion dollars each year. .
Every country depends on essential infrastructure like power plants, hospitals and financial services companies. Attacks on related systems (we can cite the hospital in Dax, in the Landes, whose computer system was literally paralyzed by ransomware in early 2021, or cyber attacks that simultaneously targeted media (such as TV5 Monde or France Télévisions ) or town halls (like those of Angers or Douai)) could be particularly problematic. Securing this type of organization is therefore essential to the proper functioning of our society.
What are the different types of cyber security threats?
In order to put in place effective and appropriate protection mechanisms, it is important to know the threats and attacks that target the hardware as well as the network, , but also the users themselves. Here are some examples of common cyber threats:
Among the most common cyber security threats, malware is the multiple forms of harmful software that run when a user mistakenly downloads it. This includes viruses, Trojan horses and spyware.
Ransomware is another type of malware, designed to extort money by encryption blocking access to files or a computer system and demanding payment of a ransom to decrypt and unlock them.
Distributed denial of service attacks
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks flood servers, systems, and networks with traffic (messages, connection requests, or packets) to slow them down or take them offline, preventing legitimate traffic from using them.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are prolonged targeted attacks in which an attacker infiltrates a network and remains undetected for long periods of time with the intent of stealing data.
This tactic relies on human interaction to trick users into violating security procedures in order to obtain sensitive information that is usually protected. Well known to all, phishing is a form of social engineering that involves sending users fraudulent emails that look like messages from trusted sources, such as those from government departments. Carried out randomly, the main objective of these attacks is to steal sensitive data, such as credit card or login information. There is now also targeted phishing, called spear phishing , which consists of targeting a specific person and not a large number of people.
Man-in-the-middle attack
The MITM attacker impersonates a sender and receiver on the network. This attack aims in particular to interfere in the exchanges of keys making it possible to encrypt subsequent exchanges. The attacker’s goal is to replace the exchanged key with a key he knows so that he can defeat the encryption protection for later attacks.
The development of new technologies brings its share of questions concerning their level of security and, consequently, the birth of new threats and attacks.
This is also true for blockchain , massively adopted by governments and industries, and cloud , whose rise of the hybrid workplace and the need to quickly move to digital business models have increased adoption. Securing cloud environments , through the preservation of confidentiality and data security in infrastructures, applications and online platforms, is therefore an essential step in protecting organizations.
The 5G network , which aspires to be more secure than the networks of previous generations, also poses new security questions, in particular because of the multiple applications and devices that will rely on its networks, involving an increasing number of gateways to the network: televisions, locks, connected heaters, etc. If these devices are not sufficiently protected against cyber attacks, many risks can arise, starting with issues of invasion of privacy and people.
Finally, the quantum computer , which promises to tackle complex problems that are difficult or even impossible for a classical computer, will render current methods of encryption obsolete, thus becoming a serious threat to the cyber security systems on which it is based. support virtually all businesses.
Cyber security: what place for research?
For more than ten years, France has placed cyber security among its national priorities, presenting various support strategies and inviting research and industrial players to work together to develop a safer digital environment.