To your CVs. Faced with “the multiplication and seriousness of cyber attacks”, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces is organizing and opening new positions for cyber-combatants in addition to the 1,100 recruitments initially planned by 2025, announced Minister Florence Parly. France, which has had a military cyber defense command since 2017 (”
Comcyber ”), Provided with the Military Programming Law (LPM) 2019-2025 a budget of 1.6 billion euros for cyber defense and the recruitment of new cyber fighters to reach a workforce of 4,000 people.
However, “given the multiplication and seriousness of cyber attacks, I have decided to intensify recruitments during the period 2019-2025”, plans to declare the Minister of the Armed Forces at the International Forum for Cybersecurity in Lille (North), because “of a” new space of conflict “, we are today to wonder about the existence of a” Cold War in cyberspace “”, where Russians and Chinese are regularly accused of predation by the West.
770 new cyber fighters
Thus, “the Ministry of the Armed Forces will recruit 770 cyber-combatants in addition to the 1,100 initially planned” to reach 5,000 personnel in 2025 within the armed forces, the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA) and the French foreign intelligence service DGSE, she explains in her speech, recalling France’s ambition to become “a champion of cybersecurity”.
Data theft and ransomware attacks have increased in recent months around the world, targeting various companies and administrations, including a US pipeline operator, a meat packing company, the Irish health services IT system and a large Indian airline.
The cyber weapon in support of field operations
The cyber issue also has a military dimension, reminds Florence Parly. “The Ministry of the Armed Forces has missions and challenges (…) which require us to use the cyber weapon in support of our operations. Our adversaries are not deprived of it, whether they are state powers, terrorist groups or their supporters. “
In the theater of Operation Barkhane in the Sahel, which mobilizes more than 5,000 French soldiers and must be profoundly redesigned in the coming months, “we have recently seen an increase in attacks,” the minister said in particular.
As part of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the first half of 2022, Paris intends to organize a forum in January bringing together cyber commanders from the 27 member states, assured Florence Parly.