On 22 July, the government presented the results of its audit on the vast telephone network breakdown that rendered emergency numbers inaccessible for several hours on 2 June. And the conclusion is clear: "There were shortcomings on the part of Orange".

In the report submitted by Anssi, IGA, Igas, the CGE and the SEAC, the sequence of events is the same as that already set out by Orange in its own investigation. Namely, the failure occurred on Wednesday 2 June, at 4:45 pm, during a maintenance operation on a telephone network equipment.

Technically, the malfunction is due to an equipment of the network called "calls servers", gateways allowing the interconnection between the old switched telephone network and the fibre network carrying the internet data. This is a mandatory step for calls made from a Wi-Fi phone to a landline, or from another operator's mobile phone to emergency numbers. The report states: "The malfunction of the equipment was caused by a manipulation by the operator, which triggered a software bug blocking the equipment and rendering it uncontrollable".

Anssi insists on the conjunction of three factors, namely firstly "somewhat hazardous [computer] commands issued by Orange", i.e. technical manipulations for an operation to improve the call server but carried out "in an unusual order" by the technician. Then, these same commands were replicated "in a very short time" on all the call servers. This is where the "bug" in the equipment supplied by the service provider Italtel "appeared", a bug that "is not the responsibility of Orange".

The agency also noted "a certain slowness in Orange's reaction" and "a lack of technical advice on its part" towards the various emergency services.

In total, around 3 million calls were not completed, including 11,800 to emergency numbers. The incident probably had dramatic consequences: judicial or administrative investigations have been opened into six deaths that occurred during the outage. "Orange took nearly an hour to become aware that the outage was affecting emergency services in particular, two hours to inform the authorities and nearly three hours to put in place an appropriate system," the report said.

Cédric O also indicates that "the government will refer the matter to Arcep in the next few days to study the consequences", potentially legal. Telecoms operators are in fact obliged to carry calls, particularly emergency calls, and to maintain the security and integrity of networks.

In addition, by the end of September, new recommendations for the management of emergency numbers will be established, to be implemented by operators. This will be accompanied by a future crisis exercise.

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Source : L'Obs

Olivier Roussat, deputy managing director of the Bouygues group, announced that the telecom operator will gradually withdraw cell phone relay antennas manufactured by Huawei. Located in dense areas in France, 3,000 antennas will be affected by 2028. A decision taken at the request of the French government for security reasons of the 5G network.

ndeed, the French National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (Anssi) will grant authorizations to telecom operators to use 5G equipment, including those manufactured by Huawei, for a maximum period of 8 years. When they expire, authorizations to operate Huawei equipment are not expected to be renewed.

As a result, by 2028, the Chinese giant could be completely squeezed out of the French 5G networks.

To anticipate this decision, Bouygues is starting today to withdraw and replace the antennas manufactured by Huawei. This also enables it to limit the financial impact of this decision. Bouygues did not specify which company would replace Huawei.

Olivier Roussat also indicated that discussions were underway with the French authorities to compensate for the ban on Huawei equipment, which is very costly for the French operator. But without saying more. However, he specified that the group had launched several parallel legal proceedings against the French State.

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Source : L'Usine Digitale

According to several telecom specialists, operators' uncertainty about whether or not to use Huawei's 5G antennas for their new mobile networks is growing.

Yet the law on securing mobile networks (nicknamed "anti-Huawei") has made things clearer. Indeed, operators must get the green light from Anssi - the National Agency for Information Systems Security - before using 5G equipment. The Agency then has two months to study their files.

At the end of December, Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom all submitted authorization applications for the deployment of Chinese 5G antennas in France.

However, according to several sources, cyber-experts in the French-speaking part of the country are making more and more requests for further information. It's not serious, "says a concerned operator. If they're trying to save time this way, it's a mistake. A court would never agree with them, the case law is very clear".

What operators are actually afraid of is that the Anssi is deliberately dragging its feet to avoid having to post a denial of clearance ahead of the 5G frequency allocations, scheduled for April. If equipment manufacturers were to be denied to operators before that date, the latter would then be weakened and could therefore lower their bids for the 5G auctions .

According to the new legal framework, the absence of a positive response from the Anssi within two months is tantamount to a refusal. But this time limit runs from receipt of a complete file... a complete file. Hence the irritation of the operators in front of what one actor describes as "delaying tactics" to postpone the deadline.

A specialist in the sector even indicates that "Some operators are impatiently waiting for an implicit refusal to be able to take legal action".

But the strategic interest of the four players differs. Indeed, Free, using only antennae of the Finnish Nokia, is not concerned.

Orange does not use Huawei antennas in France to date. However, it wants to have the possibility to solicit the Chinese supplier for its future 5G network.

As for SFR and Bouygues Telecom, which use Huawei on half of their respective networks, they are keen to be able to continue doing business with the Shenzhen giant. Doing without its 5G antennas would indeed require dismantling the 3G and 4G antennas for compatibility reasons. The cost would be enormous. You would have to buy and install this equipment. Above all, a large part of the network would be disrupted for many months, pushing customers into the arms of the competition. "Free would become, without doing anything, the second best network in the country... while it remains far behind" as a telecom specialist analyses.

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Source : Les Echos

On June 13, Rezopole participated in the Cybersecurity Inter-Associations Symposium in Lyon. Organized by Club 27001 Lyon, this Cybersecurity and New Technologies event brought together associations and national institutions with a focus on the participation of the IT Department, CISO and DPO functions.

The first part of the morning was devoted to a round table discussion with associations such as Rezopole, whose presence was explained by its President, Philippe Duby.

The Internet now has a very important place in the proper functioning of the Information System, especially when it is connected to Cloud platforms: it can be subject to outages (loss of availability), DNS or DDOS attacks (loss of integrity) or traffic usurpation (loss of confidentiality).

Rezopole protects itself from these problems by using its Internet marketplaces (LyonIX & GrenoblIX with ports up to 100 Gbps) and its BGP network expertise (24/7 Managed Services, BGP consulting / assistance / training).

Find the detailed program of this day in this article from Le Monde Informatique.

An event held on November 8th, 2016 at la maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Clermont-Ferrand. Organized by the ANSSI (National Agency of Computer Software Security) with supports from the Blaise Pascal University and the DIRECCTE Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Regional Direction of Concurence, Consumation, Work and Employee Enterprise), this event falls within the scope of the thematic meetings on digital security of the OZSSI (Zonal Observatory of Computer Software Security) South-Est.

In the Information and Communication Technology area, the digital security is vital and a chalenge for the future. During this 25th thematic meeting different speakers will explain the various actions set-up in the region to lead this everyday battle. It is an opportunity for Damien Lebret to come and present our partner MassifIX but also to understand the approach to industrial cyber-security, and for Yann Bourjault from Schneider Eletric to give a feedback on the development of the Stormshield industrial firewall.

Learn more about registration?

Please visit the ANSSI web site.

[French article]

Pour la cinquième année consécutive, l’Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information (ANSSI) avec la participation de l’Afnic, analyse la résilience de l’Internet français en étudiant deux protocoles, BGP et DNS.

L’observatoire encourage l’ensemble des acteurs de l’Internet à s’approprier les bonnes pratiques d’ingénierie admises pour les protocoles BGP, DNS, et TLS, et à anticiper la menace que représentent les DDoS. D’autre part, l’observatoire énonce des recommandations. Voir plus de détails ici.

À propos de l'ANSSI

Autorité nationale en matière de sécurité et de défense des systèmes d’information, l’ANSSI constitue un réservoir de compétences qui met son expertise et assiste les administrations et les opérateurs d’importance vitale. Elle est chargée de la promotion des technologies, des systèmes et des savoir-faire nationaux. Elle contribue au développement de la confiance dans le numérique. Le centre de transmission gouvernemental, placé sous l’autorité du SGDSN, assiste l’ANSSI à travers la mise en œuvre les moyens sécurisés de commandement et de liaison nécessaires au président de la République et au Gouvernement.

À propos de l'Afnic

Créée en 1997, l’Afnic (Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération), est une association à but non lucratif. Désignée par l'État pour gérer les noms de domaine en .fr, elle en assure la promotion auprès des entrepreneurs et des particuliers. Gestionnaire historique du .fr avec plus de 2,9 millions de noms de domaine en .fr à ce jour, elle se positionne également comme fournisseur de solutions techniques et de services de registre : elle accompagne ainsi 14 projets de nouveaux domaines Internet de premier niveau dont le .paris et le .bzh. L’Afnic est implantée à Saint-Quentin en Yvelines : 80 personnes travaillent ainsi à ce bien commun qu’est l’Internet français.