Cyberdefense: guardians of the network

Digital freedom – we experience it every day without really thinking too much about it. Yet behind our carefree habits lies a crucial question. It’s not whether you’ll be a victim of a cyberattack, but when. And especially who will be at your side to help deal with it. Anticipating, detecting, identifying, protecting and reacting: this is the job of Orange Cyberdefense. These guardians of the network are turning Orange into a European leader of cybersecurity.

Cybercrime and cyberattacks: an ever-changing reality

You’ve probably heard about or even experienced phishing attempts or online scams. These attacks are becoming more widespread and frequent. Their growth is as exponential as that of data speeds and connected devices. Their diversification is keeping pace with the explosion of digital uses worldwide. Fraud and data hacks are now occurring on an industrial scale across all business sectors and geographies. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in the European Union in May 2018, has helped to make the loss and theft of data more visible.

Avast’s 2019 annual report 2023 predicts the emergence of new threats appearing on the cyber landscape: the use of adversarial artificial intelligence (AI) to antagonise humans and detection algorithms, IoT security vulnerability (including household appliances), increased malware targeting routers… through methods such as false advertising, phishing or fake apps, mobile users are also common targets for attacks, especially bank fraud. Finally, cloud and social media data is not spared from the inventiveness of cybercriminals.

Africa particularly affected by cybercrime 

If Africa is benefiting from the latest technology developments (AI, blockchain, cloud, big data), and seizing multiple opportunities that come from them, it must also face all the security challenges in the pipeline. However, the continent lacks the IT necessary to protect government authorities, businesses and individuals from cyberattacks. High-profile cybercrime lost Africa almost $3.5 billion in 2017*. Online fraud accounts for almost 90% of cybercrime cases in Africa.

 

77% of companies say they’re unprepared for a cybersecurity incident

As individuals, taking the right steps to avoid a scam or phishing attempt is essential. At the corporate level, the issue is even more complex. Business digital transformation opens up huge opportunities, in terms of customer experience, increased productivity, new applications and more. But to uphold these promises fully, integrating cybersecurity is a major priority.

ICT innovations and processes are constantly collecting and processing new data. Any weaknesses must be controlled, monitored and protected in case of attack.

60% of companies will face significant service outages by 2020. In 2019, 73% of large companies in France fell victim to a phishing attempt (2019 CESIN barometer). It’s impossible to ignore these growing threats: intrusions, viruses, ransom demands, even vandalism.

Cybersecurity is a significant legal, financial and productivity issue, but it’s also imperative for customer relationships: 66% of consumers would not do business with a company that has suffered from a personal data attack.

Anticipation and reactivity: the keys to cyberdefense

Responsiveness is key to cyberdefense. To make a difference, it's not enough to be reactive, you have to anticipate. When it comes to Orange, we have a decisive advantage: being an operator gives us a head start.

Orange Cyberdefense brings together 3,000 experts in a range of security professions to constantly monitor our network. They analyse 60 billion events each day and are first to spot any signs of attack! Through their work, our database contains more than 550 million virus samples reviewed and listed according to their nature.