A giant power outage, emergency numbers that no longer respond, even an industrial disaster. According to an Ipsos* study for the digital consulting firm Sopra Steria, the French are worried about the disastrous consequences of a potential massive campaign of cyberattacks against institutions, companies and critical infrastructure. 79% of those surveyed said they were worried about the risk of computer attacks, particularly in the current geopolitical context of war in Ukraine and fear of the Russian hacker.
The threat was latent and it has recently materialized in the collective imagination. “This fear did not appear overnight because the steady growth of hacking is also linked to the digitization of our lives”, analyzes Yannic Lacomme, director of cybersecurity programs at Sopra Steria, specialist in digital services and publishing. softwares. “But there was a greater awareness when the attacks hit the easy prey of hospitals and we realized that we could die from a hack”.
More alert on the subject, the people questioned even have a precise idea of the most increased risks in their daily lives. 72% of respondents believe that there is a significant risk that a cyberattack will generate a paralysis of public administrative services and 71% fear a total blockage of emergency services (police and firefighters).
A stoppage of electricity production, an industrial disaster or a nuclear accident are feared by two thirds of respondents. Finally, 59% of them anticipate a disruption of food supply chains following a major cyberattack. There is no zero risk but the fantasy machine is running at full speed.
Some have been scalded and made aware of the issues in passing – by a bad experience on the Internet. They are, for example, 1 out of 3 French people to have been the target or the victim of a hacking of their account on a social network or of their e-mail.
“These fears are reinforced by the lack of knowledge of the true capacities of the attackers which maintains a doubt, while France has a good level of protection”, weighs Yannic Lacomme. “Even if we are a target of choice especially at the moment, we are not behind in securing our vital infrastructures”, abounds François Deruty, director of operations of the cybersecurity company Sekoia.
“Cyber risk should not be disproportionate to reality. It’s like a road accident, it’s up to the citizen and the authorities to prevent it from happening”, relativizes this former director of the investigation service of the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems ( Ansi).
Respondents are asking for reassuring security measures such as double authentication (password and SMS or e-mail) for 64% of them or, for 58%, government measures obliging services and industries to strengthen their cyber protection . Barrier gestures and good computer hygiene such as changing passwords regularly and filtering suspicious emails are also recommended. No one wants to become the weak link.
* Study conducted online at the end of March on a sample of 983 people representative of the French population aged 18 or over.