Cyber attacks: United States and its allies speak out against Beijing's activities
Audio 03:38
The United States accuses China of cyberattacks against Microsoft, July 19, 2021. © NOEL CELIS / AFP
By: Anne Verdaguer Follow
8 mins
Washington and its allies in a concerted campaign condemned Beijing's "malicious" cyber activities and blamed it on the massive hack in March against Microsoft group's Exchange messaging services.
Beijing has denied any responsibility.
Publicity
Cyber security is a long-standing subject, the United States has accused Russia of carrying out cyber attacks on their businesses in the past, and the economic stakes are enormous.
Cybercrime cost businesses $ 1,000 billion in 2020, or more than 1% of global GDP, according to a study by McAfee, a US company specializing in protection against computer attacks.
This is 50% more than two years ago.
And this is an exorbitant cost to the global economy.
What is behind the term cyberattack are the theft of monetary assets or intellectual property, but it also has other impacts that are often more difficult to quantify.
Because, beyond the financial damage, the victim companies suffer other consequences such as lost working hours.
The McAfee study speaks of an average of 9 hours of work per week.
Confidence in these companies can also be damaged and can even pave the way for civil compensation procedures from users who feel that their personal data has not been sufficiently protected.
Awareness of risk
As cybersecurity expert Nicolas Arpagian points out, this protection against cyber attacks requires time, brainpower and money.
Money that is not invested elsewhere and that cannot be passed on to the sale price.
In certain sectors such as industry, and other very competitive low-margin markets, there is a real reluctance to invest in this area.
The other difficulty stems from the fact that the economy is now fully digital.
A simple power failure can cripple a multinational.
Companies are less and less in a position to assume this risk on their own.
Insurance will play an increasingly important role in the future, to protect businesses against these cyber attacks.
They are starting to imagine compensation solutions, but like any other type of coverage, the company will need to prove that it has done everything it can not to be vulnerable.
US puts pressure on China
The threat is more and more real with, in recent years, a porosity between the civilian and military world. The tone is mounting on the side of the Biden administration and means are being used to catch the culprits. This was the case, in particular, for the cyberattack which took place against the American oil pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline last May. The FBI opened an investigation and the company admitted to paying a ransom of $ 4 million so that hackers could unlock the computer systems that were affected. The threat is therefore taken very seriously.
Concerning China more specifically, a report by American federal agencies - including the FBI and the NSA - claims to prove the responsibility of hacker groups linked directly to Beijing in attacks against American companies like Microsoft last March.
Beijing denied.
The European Union, some of whose hospitals were attacked in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, also points the finger at China.
Tensions between the different blocs, already exacerbated in particular by the deployment of 5G and the exclusion of Huawei from many Western markets, are growing in a world flooded by digital data.
And the affected countries will no longer hesitate to sanction any cybercriminal incursion equal to the shortfall for their companies.
► to read also: China denies any hacking of Microsoft and castigates the allies of the United States
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