The envelope is still modest on the scale of tech, but it proves that a milestone has been reached. Last fall, the French cybersecurity publisher Tehtris managed to raise 44 million euros. That is four times more than what was done in this sector four years ago! A sign that cybersecurity, long snubbed, is finally experiencing its heyday.
A threat that mobilizes to the highest peak of the state
A well-deserved success. Even if it has always been a strategic issue, companies and investors were weakly interested in this ultra-technical subject. “Thirty years ago, it was completely marginal and barely followed by a dozen experts,” recalls Bernard Barbier, the former technical director of the Directorate General for External Security. Today, the security of information systems mobilizes up to the highest level of the State, as in February 2021, when Emmanuel Macron announced a plan of 1 billion euros after cyberattacks having paralyzed two hospitals.
However, the response was slow. Because in the meantime, hackers have professionalized their practices and built a veritable cybercrime industry. The threat is such that insurers are struggling to respond to the risk. “The cyber insurance market is not yet sufficiently developed to meet the needs of large companies”, analyzes Bernard Duterque, one of the experts on the subject at Generali. For a CAC 40 group, the financial consequences of a computer attack can amount to several hundred million euros.
The prospect of a global attack
But more than a single large company taken as a target, it is the prospect of a global attack on hundreds of thousands of computers that gives specialists cold sweats. This scenario that looks like a systemic crisis has already occurred in 2017 with the NotPetya wiper. This destructive software, presumably of Russian origin, initially targeted Ukrainian companies before spreading uncontrollably around the world, causing more than ten billion dollars in damage according to the White House. A disaster that reminds us that the theme has become an essential battlefield for the great powers.
However, it is difficult to accurately estimate the overall annual cost of these cyberattacks. In its latest report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the American FBI reports having registered more than 800,000 complaints for damages of 10 billion dollars, a figure almost quadrupled since 2018. Result? The cybersecurity market is expected to grow by another 13% in 2023 to reach $224 billion according to the consulting firm Canalys. After having been underestimated for a long time, the sector is now establishing itself as one of the most dynamic in tech.