Cybercrime is costing the world billions of dollars annually. Given the profitable nature of cybercrime, hackers are getting smarter and so the cybersecurity defence of enterprises is often outmatched by attacks. Exposure of services on the Internet is the cause of more than 1/3rd of information system compromises. But, what if a company can protect itself using hackers technology? Cyberstealth solutions hold the key to securing companies and organisational applications with ethical use of darknet technology.
A Thales internal start-up, Chimere by Thales has developed a cybersecurity solution, made with darknet technology in order to hide services and applications from hackers.
“Hackers can no longer discover and therefore no longer attack services,” Guillaume-Alexandre Chaizy-Gostovitch, CEO, Chimere, told journalists at a demonstration on the latest media day held here. Launched in early 2019 as an internal innovation project by three cybersecurity engineers, Chimere offers a unique remote access service, based on concepts and technologies from the world of hacking and cyberstealth.
The darknet refers to networks that are only available to a select group of people, and only accessible via authorisation, specific software and configurations.
Thales, with 81,000 employees and sales of €16.2 billion in 2021, is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and deep tech innovations. Patrice Caine, CEO of Thales, said since the pandemic began, our societies have witnessed a major surge in malicious cyber activity. “The increase in cyberattacks is almost directly proportional to the speed of our digital transformation. The more connected the world becomes, the greater its surface of attack will be. The threat level is also rising because cybercrime is so lucrative. In recent years, the cost/benefit ratio of cybercrime has become more and more favourable to the criminals,” Caine added.
Key drivers for growth
Cybersecurity is an integral part of the three key drivers of Thales’s business growth – civil aerospace, defence and security, and digital identity and security. “With expertise spanning every environment (air, land, naval, space and cloud), we have made cybersecurity a central plank of our strategy in all our core markets,” said Marc Darmon, Executive Vice- President, Thales, Secure Communications & Information Systems. In India, Thales has been present for over 68 years and has over 1,800 employees spread across Noida, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai.
With geopolitical, technological and economic changes shaping a highly dynamic cyber landscape, Thales decided to dedicate the third edition of the Thales Media Day to the subject of cybersecurity. Panels were held on the right technology today to protect space systems, cyber sovereignty for Europe, cybersecurity enabling citizens to act securely in their daily lives, how enterprises can protect both customers and employees data, and the role of cybersecurity in shaping a sustainable mobility.
Thales also presented the 2022 Thales Cyberthreat Handbook, which details the new wave of unseen threats. The company’s Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) unit over the last five years have analysed more than 20,000 attacks in nine geographic areas and 16 sectors of activity.
“Hackers are steadily becoming more sophisticated, and their techniques, tactics and procedures are becoming more and more professional, as they exploit international tensions and realise the potential for financial gain,” said Ivan Fontarensky, Technical Director Threat Intelligence, Thales.
Outlining the necessity to secure identity digitally, Kristel Teyras, Product Line Marketing, Digital Identity Services at Thales, emphasised that the delivery of a successful and secure digital identity is fundamental to the modernisation of states and the dematerialisation of public services (mobile driving license, vehicle registration, mobile health credentials, etc.). “To date, Australia, Florida already use this solution and by September 2023, all EU member states must make a digital identity wallet available to every citizen who wants one. Our digital ID wallet represents the next generation of Mobile ID, creating a secure, smartphone-based home for all the owner’s digital identity credentials,” Teyras added.
The writer was in Paris at the invitation of Thales
Published on
June 10, 2022
