On February 18, 2021, Emmanuel Macron launched the cybersecurity acceleration strategy as part of France Relance and the4thFuture Investment Program (PIA 4). An AMI “Securing the territories” was launched with the objective of identifying local authorities, ports and health establishments, which present needs in innovative cybersecurity solutions. On 23 November last, Cédric O, Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, and Guillaume Boudy, Secretary General for Investment, announced the six winners of this AMI. Subsequently, a call for projects will be published to select the companies that will meet these security needs by developing prototypes called “cybersecurity demonstrators”.
Cybersecurity is an essential issue in order to face the growing threat of cyberattacks that can target companies, local authorities and even cities that are momentarily paralysed. Thus, in France, more than 1,200 local authorities were impacted by these attacks in 2019.
The objective of promoting the structuring of a cybersecurity offer adapted to the needs of territories is a priority of the cybersecurity acceleration strategy to counter attacks that can have enormous repercussions on the activity of the most critical structures, such as hospitals, ports… This is why supporting demand and equipment for cybersecurity solutions is one of the five axes around which the acceleration strategy is structured.
The call for expressions of interest (AMI) of March 18, 2021 “Securing the territories”, is part of this strategy at the regional level and in the national strategy of cybersecurity endowed with one billion euros
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This AMI, operated by the Bank of Territories on behalf of the State as part of the PIA 4, aims to identify local authorities, ports and health establishments, which presented needs in cyber solutions and wished to host prototypes called “cybersecurity demonstrators”.
The six winning structures
The selection of the AMI winners was made by an interministerial jury according to four main criteria:
- The clear and precise expression of cybersecurity needs and the justification for using a demonstrator to meet them;
- The formulation of a relevant need that leads to innovation;
- The demonstration of a real commitment of the structure to define the demonstrator that it will host and to select the companies that will be in charge of it;
- The economic impact of the project, for the territory as well as for the sector.
Six structures have been selected to host cybersecurity demonstrators. The six winners cover all the structures identified as priorities: a port infrastructure, a local authority and four health establishments.
The four hospital establishments:
- The GCS e-santé Bretagne
The demonstrator will focus on health data leakage. It will aim to develop a solution for marking data at the various stages of their processing.
- The Caen University Hospital
The demonstrator will focus on the security of connected objects used for home care. It will aim at designing a security layer between connected health objects and a hospital.
- The CHRU of Nancy
The demonstrator will propose an answer to the flaws present in the numerous biomedical equipments present in hospitals. It will be a self-learning system based on artificial intelligence that will automate data analysis and incident processing.
- The GCS AMETIS
The demonstrator will centralize the security tools of health care institutions. It will bring together identity management, cyber surveillance and additional services such as security audits in a single device.
The port infrastructure :
- HAROPA port
The demonstrator will provide a centralized tool for securing the multiple IT systems present in commercial ports. The development of the demonstrator will include an exhaustive mapping of flows and interconnections as well as the implementation of a maritime SOC (Security Operation Center).
The local authority :
- The Brittany Region
The demonstrator will propose a tool that brings together the commands and instruments needed to manage cybersecurity for local authorities. The demonstrator will centralize supervision, attack simulations and access security.
Security demonstrators
A call for projects, built by the State and the winners, will be the next step and will make it possible to select the companies that will build these demonstrators and to finance their development. The winners will thus be the first to benefit from the additional protection provided by the demonstrators. At the end of the experimentation, then their validation, the deployment on a larger scale of these solutions adapted to the specific needs of territorial actors will be engaged.
The demonstrators developed will thus enable the scaling up of new cyber solutions, improve our collective and territorial resilience and strengthen the French offer in the field of cyber security.
Cédric O,
Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, said:
“This is a unique opportunity to reinforce the level of cybersecurity of health establishments, local authorities and port infrastructures and thus guarantee the continuity of their essential activity for all our fellow citizens, while supporting the French cybersecurity sector. It is also an economic opportunity: the cybersecurity of territories is a field of important innovations and of reinforcement of the and strengthening the French offer supported by the acceleration strategy for cybersecurity”
As for Guillaume Boudy, Secretary General for Investment:
“The cybersecurity of territories is a major focus of the national cybersecurity strategy. This AMI and the subsequent AAP are complementary to the ANSSI’s action within the framework of the recovery plan by addressing, for the most mature structures, the needs that do not have existing solutions. This action, which addresses societal, technological and economic issues that are particularly topical by promoting innovation within our industry, once again shows the relevance of the Future Investment Programme and the France Recovery Plan.
Translated from Cybersécurité : Cédric O et Guillaume Boudy dévoilent les six lauréats de l’AMI “Sécuriser les territoires”
