02/07/2019 – CyberDefense & Strategy Event: “And what if the Internet collapsed?”

The 3^rd edition of CyberDefense & Strategy, organized by the French Cyber Command (COMCYBER), will be held on 2^nd July 2019, at the Cercle National des Armées on the theme: “And what if the Internet collapsed?”

The discussions will be mainly in French

For over 20 years now, Internet has shown its resilience. Even if some handling mistakes and a few attacks have generated downturns or even punctual and localized disconnections, infrastructures withstood human mistakes, malicious attacks, and above all, a dramatic increase of the number of users. Yet, it is precisely because the Internet has become a “convenience” and because data is the new so-called “black gold”, that we tend to forget that the infrastructures on which these innovations rely (cables, exchange points, routing and addressing protocols, datacenters,…) remain vulnerable, and that we must imagine a massive breakdown to better prepare for it. Hyper connectivity and the interference of the IoT in every area of human activity, as are the concentration of certain infrastructures and the low genetic diversity of certain equipment, impose a systemic risk on the Internet, not only in terms of confidentiality but also in terms of availability.

What are, nowadays, the main weaknesses of the infrastructures of the Internet, in terms of vulnerabilities and threats? What are the political, legal, technical and technological responses to these challenges? Should we review the key protocols of the network? Is it necessary to imagine, at the legal level, a specific protection for the « public heart » of the Internet? At the time of the return of the “power States” and a rise of unilateralism, what system of collective security can we imagine?

By invitation only – within the limits of availability. For any further information please feel free to contact us.