Cyber security still too weak in France

Cybercrime has become the second most common type of fraud and shows no slowing down. 53% of businesses in France are affected by it, but only a third have procedures in place to counter the threat.  There is a real paradox between the growing level of concern amongst business leaders facing this new type of risk and what is in place in terms of cyber security.

Allocating the appropriate resources to face these new challenges and counter the creativity of cybercriminals requires a complete reorganisation of each area of the company as often these attacks are the fruit of coordinated actions perpetrated by criminal networks.

Moreover, these attacks engage broader skills such as IT, finance and accounting without forgetting sector expertise.

What to defend with cyber security?

According to a PWC survey conducted in 2016 on information security, the breach of confidential customer data must be a priority as there has been a dramatic rise in the theft of intellectual property data.

It would seem this risk has become more important than the theft of bank account details.

From a financial point of view, if a company’s means of payment comes under attack it may well be damaging but it does not systematically call into question its sustainability.  However the cost of data hacking in relation to intellectual property is difficult to evaluate, and may have irreversible implications for the company.

All these reasons weigh in favour of IT experts and more broadly speaking senior executives sharing good practices and implementing responses adapted to each incident.

Generally speaking, with the likelihood of cybercrime branching out, it is obvious that the setting up a steering committee to combat these risks is obvious.

However there is no one-size-fits-all solution and a continuous improvement process that combines technological competence and business knowhow should be implemented.