Cyber Security
Liberty, equality, fraternity and cyber security
E By Guillaume Noé Cyber Security Advisor General Manager for Pirean, Australia & New-Zealand
mmanuel Macron is the new French president. He led an astute political campaign, building and leading a movement called “En Marche!” (Forward!) all the way to political success. Macron is young; he embraces social media; his team was cyber-savvy, which served him well, with his campaign making the headlines on cyber security matters. First, Macron took a strong position on counterterrorism with regards to the responsibilities of technology providers and ISPs not collaborating in the circumvention of encryption services, especially in messaging services. He vowed to launch a major legal initiative to hold service providers accountable as accomplices of terrorist attacks . Since the election, Macron and Theresa May (prime minister of the United Kingdom) have announced a joint initiative to crack down on terrorism, including, “how to tackle encrypted communications between extremists” . Macron was even reported to have successfully fought hackers during his campaign. What did his team do to thwart the hackers? Let’s look.
France. Free, fair and lawful election processes are critical to preserving a representational democratic system and the values that such a system fosters. In France, democratic values are best referred to through the well-known republican motto of “Liberty, Equality & Fraternity”. The definition of Equality in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 included “…All citizens, being equal in its eyes, shall be equally eligible to all high offices, public positions and employments, according to their ability, and without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.”. French citizens certainly value their right to elect their government representatives, such as their president, on the above principle of Equality. Interferences to election processes, whether from internal or foreign sources, is a risk to the principle of Equality, a risk to democracy and the values that citizens passionately defend in France and in many other countries.
Is Foreign Interference a New Risk? Interfering with Democratic Elections Democracy, the “rule of the majority”, is the cornerstone of many societies, such as Australia, the UK, the US and
46 | Australian Cyber Security Magazine
Foreign countries interfering in democratic elections or the political process of their enemies is certainly not a new phenomenon. In fact, interference has been an issue for