For a safe Vendée Globe, IT security experts intervene
The ships used for the major international sailing competition are increasingly packed with electronics.
And that says electronic tools, says hacking possibilities. And this can be unwelcome for competitors or even dangerous. One of the sponsors of the upcoming Vendée Globe, Advens for cybersecurity, from Thomas Ruyant's yacht, is an expert in computer security. "We started with a blank sheet, but with Thomas Ruyant and his team, everything went very well," explains Jérémie Jourdin, head of the IT security firm partner and sponsor of Thomas Ruyant. "I am happy and proud to have built this climate of trust and friendship within the Team.
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I wanted precise skills, very high level, but in serenity." Explains the browser. "Advens provides us with a significant support in homogenizing the data emitted by our various sensors," adds Thomas Ruyant. Of course, The engineers at Advens help us protect them, but also to analyze them. We focus on reliability in every detail."
The computer security specialist wanted to explain that the cybersecurity problem was not just about intrusions. "Cybersecurity is not just about possible intrusions. It is also necessary to ensure the integrity of the systems, their permanent availability and their confidentiality with regard to the land or other competitors at sea" he will add: "A computer that is broken or recalcitrant is disabling on land. I can imagine what it can do at sea! ! »
At the moment, the specialists are in the observation and analysis phase. The goal is to be able to identify potential problems and solve them upstream. "To ensure that systems are well-available, they must first be made more reliable and isolated (…) So we started by compartmentalizing all the equipment. Isolating a problem is like knowing how to ask a good question, so making it easier to get a good answer. If everything is intertwined in a chain, then… It was therefore also necessary to establish probabilities of occurrences." Tell our engineer.
The method used in this context is the famous silos of the systems. "System silos are a military technique (…) Then we can define the risks for each, so put in place factors 2 or 3. It is the risk analysis. The greater the risk, the more we'll go to a factor 3. A Plan C, if you prefer, that will come after Plan B. And it is because these factors have been defined well in advance that the risk has been estimated, thus potentially reduced (…) Whether Thomas Ruyant is close to a hill or away will not change anything since the race will be without assistance For the satellite link itself, 10 kilometers or 1000 kilometers, it is the same in terms of the reliability of the signal. It may just affect the amount of signals, but right now we were below reasonable thresholds of need," notes Daydin.
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