What are the challenges of cybersecurity?

When the major movements of society are based on the Internet, and our professional, personal data are stored on it, the issue of cybersecurity is more than ever at the center of our concerns.

However, this needs for security increases proportionally to the complexity of our computer systems and, consequently, to the difficulty we have in protecting them effectively against the growing number of ingenious attacks.

Given the apparent fragility of current means of protection, it is incumbent upon technological innovation players to rethink the notion of cybersecurity. So what changes are coming in this area, and why are they critical?  

What is cybersecurity?

First of all, it is important to define the concept of cybersecurity, which, although omnipresent in our daily lives, is sometimes confused.

Cybersecurity refers to all mechanisms and actions to protect computer systems and the data they contain. By protect, we mean in particular to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of digital data, the proper functioning of computer services and ensure user authentication. 

This protection requires technical tools (antivirus software, firewalls), human tools (engineers, ethical hackers, awareness of professionals and individuals…), educational tools (EBIOS risk assessment method), and legislative tools (ISO/CEI 27001 standard, RGPD, Cybersecurity Act…).

Massive digitalization, a breeding ground for cybercrime

The digital transformation taking place for several years throughout the world has led to a massive dematerialization of information systems with their migration to the cloud. The multiplication of devices from which these systems are accessed and an acceleration of the frequency of software updates, makes the protection of servers much more complex and creates as many opportunities for cybercriminals.

While cybersecurity is already a priority issue, it is likely to become even more in the coming years if the pace of digitization of society is anything to go by.

Day after day, the role of the Internet in political, economic, and social dynamics is increasing in proportion to the weight of the consequences of cyber-attacks on companies, state structures, and individuals.

Cyber attacks: disastrous consequences

The leakage of sensitive data could have major consequences. For example, a love affair and major geopolitical disruptions, ransom payments, or repair costs jeopardize companies. it could be also a violation of medical secrecy, and damage to the defense sector…: The dramatic consequences of a cyber-attack are innumerable, and history has proven that they are unfortunately not fictional.

Suppose the implementation of antivirus and firewalls and the taking of precautions in cybersecurity are necessary and allow to drastically reduce computer threats. In that case, they are far from being infallible and the speed of evolution of our systems combined with the determination of hackers make it unlikely that they will ever be.

So, what is the solution? Should everyone be prepared to suffer, one day or another, a cyber-attack with tragic consequences? The answer is obviously no. But to face the threats, a strategic change must take place

LiFi and cybersecurity: a paradigm shift on the agenda

One of the major flaws in our use of the Internet is the technology by which we access it in most public and private places: Wi-Fi. Still, in the majority of the wireless communication landscape, this technology based on radio frequency waves has an average range of 250 meters outdoors and 35 meters indoors for a single access point. The signal emitted crosses the walls of the room in which it is broadcast and can be easily hacked from outside by any malicious person, and even more easily if, as is often the case, the network is poorly secured.

That is where LiFi comes in. A wireless communication technology based on visible light, in which data is transmitted through a beam of light emitted by an LED bulb and projected towards the connected device.

The light does not pass-through walls, and the LiFi signal is strictly impossible to hack by anyone outside the room and even outside the coverage area of the light source.

The coverage angle can be adjusted to restrict access to a specific user or users, and access can be subject to personal authentication for added security.

You don’t have to give up a quality connection to benefit from this technology. With throughput equivalent to the best fiber offerings and latency as low as 0.5 milliseconds, LiFi ticks all the boxes to become the face of future connectivity. 

What’s more, LiFi operates without radio waves and is therefore safe to use because your safety is just as important as the safety of your data.