This symposium organized by the school will be held at EPITA March 22, from 4pm to 7pm. The program of the day will focus on the "Anonymous" and the evolution of careers in security of information systems.
 
The conference "Information Technologies and Communications (ICT) and Geopolitics - Information, Beware of Danger!" organized by EPITA will be held March 22, 4pm to 7pm on the Kremlin-Bicêtre campus in the auditorium of the school. It will consist of two panel discussions moderated by Nicolas Arpagian, editor of the journal Strategic Prospective and gather experts and practitioners in Internet and Computer Security.
 
Security Threats
Internet users are increasingly comfortable using information technologies. Whether they be employees using personal computers in their business or citizens involved with their own computer in militant action on the Web, individuals develop each day the independent skills to master the many possibilities of digital tools .  Some users are able to become experts able to undermine the safety systems of both firms and states. A new form of fighting ahead emerges ahead.

Anonymous & Hackers vs.  Information Security
The first roundtable, entitled "From Tunis to Hadopi, "Are we all called to become Anonymous? " will be held Pascal Herard, journalist news site Reflets.info, Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net and Frederic shingle, the Internet analyst, co-author of Anonymous (FYP Editions).
 
While hackers are present almost daily in headlines, the technologies of electronic surveillance are deployed on a large scale. What are the stakes of this technological race in which some work to increase the diffusion of information while others track communications and seek to mark out every move made on the Web?
 
Transparency vs. Protection of Information Systems
The second roundtable, entitled "Will RSSI leave room for RSI, Responsible for Information Security? "Meet Michel Bellot, the RSSI of Stime, Eric Dean, the RSSI of Generali and Cyril Reinhard, in charge of EPITA's Multimedia & Information Technology major.
 
Do subcontracting, outsourcing and the use of cloud computing-announce the death knell of information system under control from start to finish of businesses and governments? With the movement BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)  do the same tools to access the computer professional who is challenged, while the phenomenon OpenData induces a sense of transparency hardly usual in our Latin culture.  Are we already giving up secure information systems to focus solely on the protection of information?
 
Event Program:
 
4pm: From Tunis to Hadopi: are we all destined to become Anonymous?
- Pascal Herard, journalist, www.reflets.info
- Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net
- Frederic shingle, the Internet analyst, co-author of Anonymous
 
5:30pm: Will the RSSI leave room for Information Security Manager?
- Michel Bellot, RSSI, Stime
- Eric Dean, RSSI, Generali
- Cyril Reinhard, Manager Major MTI (Multimedia), EPITA
 
7pm: Networking Cocktail

The conference website

Register
 
Where?

Geopolitics & ICT - Information, beware of danger!
March 22, 2012 4pm - 7pm
EPITA Amphitheatre 4
14-16 rue Voltaire
94270 Kremlin Bicêtre

Specialized in the field of Communication and in the field of Personal

 Efficacy (self-confidence, time management, stress management,

 organization, motivation), I specialize in training institutes or prestigious

 schools like Centrale or EPITA, for seven the past years.

What is your greatest teaching achievement?
My greatest achievement is to have appropriately adapted for schools the 'Terre de Com' method to train and master public speaking. Structured and fun, these workshops offer a variety of exercises and are based on the distribution of appropriate roles to target all participants. From assessments, resolutely encouraging, emerge strengths and areas for improvement adapted to each.

Why did you decide to bring Hip-Hop to EPITA?

First of all, I wanted to share and extend a passion that I had developed six years ago. I love this dance and everything it represents. More than an art, this dance is a real culture and it provides an absolutely stimulating experience. The Hip-Hop culture includes not only dance and songs but also dressing styles, history and real life experiences.

For a geek, Hip-Hop is also a way to reconcile with the body. Dance is a matter of feeling the sensation it represents and you can easily feel it in case of Hip-Hop. Moreover, the mix of technical and unstructured aspect of Hip-Hop makes it really special and pleasing.

Hip-Hop is a very expressive dance. It's the urban American style - it comes from the streets and you can feel that right away. This dance helps to let go, to disinhibit, to escape - it takes you into a different world.

What exactly is the kind of Hip-Hop that you are learning?

Hip-hop has a history and there is a revolutionary aspect to it. Several movements, such as Tecktonik, got created from the scratch and gradually developed into a craze.

There are many variants of Hip-Hop like popping (including Pop, The Smurf, Boogaloo, etc.), Locking, The New Style, Jazz Rock, Break Dance, Hype, House, Krumping and Top Rock.

I am primarily a popper, but in the course of time I am shifting to The New Style - which has fluid, easier movements. The New Style is one of the most famous dances; we can see it in TV videos, involving dancers like Chris Brown.

How are the Hip-Hop classes organized at school?

The dance classes are organized as part of the sports association of EPITA known as Episport*. Classes are held once a week at school, on Tuesday evening at 19:00 (with an uncertain duration - around two hours in general). The sessions are open to EPITA students as well as to the students of other schools of Group IONIS such as Epitech, Sup'Biotech, e-artsup and Ionis-STM. Last year there were around 15 students registered, almost all at the beginner's level.

During the sessions, we do several exercises on basic movements and then we start learning about the sequence of steps. We try to set up the stage with multiple students and prepare different shows of about 5 minutes each. Participants get trained to perform shows in different events of the school such as the X'mas party or the integration party of Ionis-STM.

The sessions also aim to help students learn more about the hip-hop culture. In the middle of March, the most diligent students went to attend the largest international event of Hip-Hop known as "juste debout" (whic translates as 'just standing') at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy. Further, I would also like to hold sessions to show some key movies on the origins of hip-hop.

* Episport

Episport is the office of sports for EPITA, Epitech and Sup'Biotech. This association allows students to participate in sports activities throughout the year. Students have the opportunity to experience team sports (Football, Rugby, Volleyball, Basketball, Handball and Street Hockey) as well as individual sports (Taekwondo, Tennis, Badminton). Weekly trainings are organized by volunteer students and inter-varsity games (FNSU) take place every Thursday afternoon.

The 23rd year of IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics) was held in Pattaya, Thailand from July 22 to 29. Two members of the French team, supported by EPITA, were awarded with medals.

Paul Kirchner, a secondary school student in his final year, who had already won two bronze medals in previous years, was ranked ninth and won a gold medal for France. Jules Pondard, a secondary school student in his fifth year, was ranked 114th and won a bronze medal. France thus secured its second gold medal at the IOI since the debut of the event in 1996. The last gold medal won for France was secured by Mehdi Bouaziz in 2005, with a similar ranking. In addition to these two gold medals, France has already collected a total of five silver and twenty bronze medals.

Paul Kirchner in yellow, Jules Pondard in white, Mathias Hiron in azure

EPITA, the school involved in the competition

Every year - for about one week, around 80 participating countries in the IOI are represented by four students (under 19 years of age) from each participating country. Every participant must solve problems of algorithmic nature in five hours during two events that make up the competition. EPITA has been supporting team France via the France-IOI association, by hosting the French competition (April 30 - May 1), and by allowing the winners to get training in its premises as well as sponsoring their travel.

Training by France IOI at EPITA

"The training for the final competition allowed me to gain more speed and agility in solving problems", said Paul Kirchner. "Algorithms and algebra are a passion for me. I started feeling bored during my final year at secondary school, and thus went on to discover the program of first year preparatory classes and worked to solve difficult computational exercises. I also participated in the competition Prologin, during which I got second place this year. I am now going to enter the first year of "Maths-Physics-Engineering Sciences" (MPSI) at Lycee Louis-le-Grand, and I am aiming to enter the Ecole Normale Supérieure d'Ulm to continue my studies in research."

Intensive training with the France IOI

For Mathias Hiron, President of France IOI, "participants at the World Finals are usually bright students, computer enthusiasts who pursue their careers in academic research or in big companies such as Google, Facebook or Microsoft after passing through the Ecole Normale Supérieure or EPITA. "

A glimpse of the France IOI website

Students participating in this challenging competition were trained regularly on the web-site of France IOI, which offers free exercises on IT and algorithms. With 10 years of existence, there are a total of 10,000 registered users and 500 visitors per day. After the publication of a new version of the website this summer there was a significant increase in its attendance: more than 17,000 exercise solutions just during the month of August. Mathias Hiron wants to gradually internationalize the website. At the moment it is available only in French, but soon it will be made available in Spanish, German, Lithuanian and other languages.

IOI as a gateway to the future

One of the four participants of the French team, George-Axel Jaloyan, a 15 year old secondary school student, said: "I found the site while solving programming problems (in my case C). Then I started algorithmic exercises, and I was not able to stop afterwards. I discovered a whole community via France-IOI internships. I learnt a lot from this and it was totally rewarding for me. Algorithms are not taught in the traditional curriculum, France-IOI was the cord that connected me to this area. I learned a new way to code, a way to solve algorithmic problems and, more generally - the art of using a research method for a given problem. "

Candidates at work during the IOI in Pattaya

"The benefits of this training were almost immediate - after the first training from IOI France, my math average increased by 2 points, and my ability to find solutions to math problems increased significantly. The IOI represents success of several years of work. This competition opens many doors and will enrich my CV as well as my personal experience. Moreover I feel honored to represent France in an international competition. "

For more information log on to the website of the France IOI: www.france-ioi.org

The project « eTourism Augmented Reality », has been chosen among over 70 candidates as one of the 18 winners of the first call for proposals «Scanning technologies and enhancement of cultural, scientific and educational content » within the framework of the Investment Program for the Future launched by the French government.

This project, planned for 30 months, has a global budget of 7 millions of Euros. The consortium involves two project leaders -- i-Marginal [http://www.imarginal.com/] and CEA-List [http://www-list.cea.fr/ ] --, three start-ups -- LTU [http://www.ltutech.com/], DiotaSoft [http://www.diotasoft.com/] and XediX [http://www.xedix.eu/] -- several research partners -- i-Matériel.Lab [http://imateriel.eu/], Institute for Research and Innovation (IRI) [http://www.iri.centrepompidou.fr/] and LRDE (EPITA) [http://www.lrde.epita.fr] --, and institutional partners such as AtoutFrance [http://www.atout-france.fr], Centre Pompidou [http://www.centrepompidou.fr], La Cinémathèque Française [http://www.cinematheque.fr], Issy Media [http://www.issy.com] and Villa Arson [http://www.villa-arson.org].

« eTourism Augmented Reality » aims at inventing intelligent augmented reality dedicated to tourism and cultural heritage.

The goal is to design optimized programs for smart phones and touch pads that provide access to enhanced digital content and allow interaction in real time by using navigation avatars, intelligent 3D object recognition, contextualized data superimposed on the real environment, connection with smart objects... Many solutions helping to guide us, inform us, entertain us, and assist us in various fields of our daily life, particularly designed for tourism and cultural activities.

Thanks to a single platform, users of this intelligent augmented reality tool will be able to combine object recognition of art work and architecture, 2D and 3D image registration, analysis of text bodies, overlay of interactive navigation avatars, precise geolocation, indoor and outdoor navigation, text translation in real time...

The role of the LRDE within this project is to carry out automatic extraction of text in images on mobile devices. The aim is to use semantic information that has been extracted in order to enhance the data transmitted to the user, either by translating or by completing them. The user can, for example, take a picture of a work of art in a museum with his mobile phone. The application will then extract automatically the name and the description from the image in order to translate the text into the user's language and offer him links to more information on the work. This system will work in spite of the variety of types of the texts (size, font, color,...) and within a reasonable time for a mobile device (low-power, limited memory, ...).

For two weeks, from July 25 to August 5, Benoît Reitz (EPITA), Philippe Chassagnard (EPITA), Thomas Bacoup (IPSA) and Sébastien Patour (IPSA) participated in the buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States at IDC Robocon. During the 22nd year of the event, Benoît Reitz's team came third.

A competition of endurance in a mythical place

IDC Robocon is an international competition organized by a consortium of the most prestigious universities and schools in the world, in which students from eight countries form joint teams competing under identical conditions of hardware and equipment. During these two very intense weeks the candidates housed in student residences at MIT have barely time to breathe. The program is tough: breakfast at 7 am, conference at 8 am on the problems encountered during the previous day, and team work from 9 am to 11 pm, with only two breaks for meals. They have only Sunday to visit the corners of this famous place.

International Collaboration

For Philippe Chassagnard: "One of the major difficulties of the IDC Robocon is communication. Each of us is placed in a team where he does not know the other members. But we must work with them effectively despite linguistic and cultural barriers. In my team, we did not all work the same way and we had mixed knowledge. We had to overcome these difficulties to build a robot that could stand out. If we were not able to impose ourselves, it is because of operational errors. "

It is ultimately the strategy of Benoît Reitz's team that paid off: "Our robot was not the most efficient. But our tactic was to keep preventing our opponents to score points. "

Continuing in robotics

If the primary purpose of Evolutek is to prepare its members for the Coupe de France of robotics, in which the association came fifth last year, IDC Robocon has specificities that make this event very useful for students. "During these two weeks, various sessions were held to upgrade the participants on a particular aspect of robotics, said Olivier Widar, the head of the association. For example they might not have had training on the Arduino programming, which is used to control the robot and different types of sensors."

Throughout the year, members of Evolutek from EPITA, IPSA and Epitech (all schools of IONIS Group) come together to work on the robot that they will represent to compete at the Coupe de France. Thomas Bacoup, a student at IPSA, extols the virtues of teamwork: "The tasks are divided into three areas: mechanics (mainly IPSA), Information Technology (EPITA and Epitech) and finally Electronics (the 3 schools)". This is an opportunity for students to share their skills and gain a real versatility needed in robotics.

There is no specialized school of robotics in France. A number of students who go through Evolutek then choose to continue in the field, either by integrating in research laboratories or by joining specialized companies. Two former members of the association - Pierre-Yves Vachot (IPSA - 2010) and Stanislav Rudico (IPSA - 2010) have worked at Aldebaran Robotics. At EPITA, the specialization "Software Engineering and Real-time Systems" and "Cognitive Science and Advanced Computing" potentially lead to robotics. The area of ​​armaments in France is the closest to the field of robotics and provides bright career prospects, notably at institutions like the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and companies such as Safran and MBDA.

Mehul Jain, after obtaining a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering in Bangalore, has worked for over two years in India as a junior and senior program at Accenture. He finally decided to take further training by going to France to pursue the International Master at EPITA.

Why did you decide to do the International Master at EPITA?

I was eager to move up the corporate hierarchy.  I needed to get this additional training that gives me the guarantee of providing excellent technical and managerial level skills.  I also wanted to gain international experience outside India that could bring me the knowledge of methodologies used abroad.

On the recommendation of Campus France, I decided to pursue the International Master at EPITA - a school with an excellent reputation among companies and that gives the opportunity to do internships easily - an aspect I was looking for as well.

What have you gained during your stay at EPITA?

EPITA allowed me to deepen my knowledge of the algorithms, system architecture, fundamentals of programming and design methods. At the same time, I familiarized myself with finance, marketing and managerial concepts of management to work in an international environment with different cultures.

Your best memory?

My most vivid memory is that of snow in December. I had never seen snowfall before so I even requested to skip a class exceptionally during that day to enjoy the experience.

And regarding your projects?

In terms of my projects, my specialization is Information Systems Management (ISM).  As a web developer, I develop websites on behalf of my company. Benefiting from the knowledge gained at EPITA I wish to implement new websites for Accenture in India.

EPITA International Master, proudly presents the first edition of its EPITA International Master Scholarship for Excellence Program.  This launching batch is made available to all admitted students for the Winter 2012 cohort.

From March 2012 three stipends will be up for grabs on a merits' base selection for the following:

1^st Prize: €3,000

2^nd Prize: €2,000

3^rd Prize: €1,000

[As the Winter 2012 application deadline is fast approcahing, make sure you apply by December 30th to be able, once admitted, to apply to EPITA International Master Scholarship for Excellence Program. 

Questions, comments write to sfe@epita.fr ]

For the fifth consecutive year, schools under IONIS Education Group are mobilized on the eve of the World Day of Fight Against HIV / AIDS observed on December 1st since 1995.

During this occasion, schools covered various topics related to the virus such as information, risk awareness, prevention, disease progression and treatment or taking care of the sick.

Each institution of IONIS Education Group stepped-in in its own way by organizing lectures, screening films, collection stalls for associations fighting against AIDS (Sidaction, AIDES, or AIDS Info Services).

What was your career path after graduating from EPITA?

I chose to do my graduation internship at Thales Australia in Melbourne. As an intern, I worked on several research and development projects - especially developing tools to improve the effectiveness and use of the testing process.

At the end of this internship, Thales offered me an interesting position of a 'Software Integrator' for a project of one of its Australian clients. Most of my work is focused on the development of a new simulator used for training air traffic controllers. Recently I was assigned a similar project for a client in Singapore.

What is your position at Thales Australia?

Thales Australia in Melbourne works in the field of air traffic control. We develop Information Systems for airports that allow air traffic controllers to ensure the safety of the airspace. These complex systems must enable them to manage various issues related to the movement of different devices, data exchanges etc. It's an exciting environment and a stimulating project.

As a Software Integrator, my work includes to make sure that the components developed by different teams operate correctly. It comprises of configuration activities of the system and its middleware, system-level testing, support for development and validation teams - all kinds of interventions and skills mastered during my stay at EPITA.

Why did you choose another country?

I wanted to see what life was like elsewhere, in another culture. I chose Australia because we know a very little about this country in Europe.  Australia is full of treasures - lush nature in particular. The social activity here makes life very dynamic and we can interact with many people and professionals from around the world.

From a professional point of view, working in Australia also allowed me to strengthen my English skills. In addition, Thales is a French multinational present in many sectors; this allowed me to have a wide range of possibilities with respect to location and career.

The SRS Day, organized since 2007 at EPITA, is an event open to the public and aims to present the study of topics related to computer security.

The fourth edition is sponsored by the company Intrinsec - an expert in computer security and information systems. There will be six lectures delivered during the event - each presented by a group of students supervised by an industry professional.

The event will take place at the premises of EPITA on Friday, November 25th from 14:00 onwards.

Program of the day:

- Crisis Management and Advanced Persistent Threat: Symptomatic of the professionalization of cybercrime, the Advanced Persistent Threat is a threat from an entity that has both the capacity and willingness to attack a specific target in order to extract information in the long term. Crisis management during such an attack is totally strategic.

- iPhone Mobile Application Security: The market for iPhone applications is a new sector that is growing rapidly in recent years. In this context, various tools and techniques for the evaluation of these applications will be presented. The consequences of a malicious application will be studied under different scenarios.

- Security and IT Consumerization: The increasing porosity between the information systems (IS), business and personal devices, called Consumerization of IT, is an issue of growing importance for managers of Information Systems. The purpose of the study is to propose some answers facing the dilemma between security and freedom of the users with respect to the current market offerings.

- Database Security: The databases have completely changed the way companies manage information. But security issues related to this phenomenon is all too rarely mastered. After studying the different vulnerabilities, preventive measures will be highlighted to implement defensive measures using case studies.

- IPV6 Security - Secure Architecture: IPv6 is back in an active phase of deployment, while the various security issues related to this protocol are still poorly understood. Attacks and prevention methods that can now be implemented for IPv6 will be addressed by understanding several scenarios.

- ITES Dashboard: The dashboard "Information System Security" (SSI) is a tool allowing businesses to have a synthetic view of the security situation at different levels, especially decision-making and operational. The methods of preparing such a table will be studied to eventually determine its importance in a concrete case.

- Round Table "View on the year 2011 - New Challenges and Prospects of 2012." The round table will compare the views of security professionals belonging to the companies like GDF Suez, Areva, Alstom and Intrinsec.

Why defend free software?

The idea of defending free software is based on a philosophical belief: it is better for humanity to share software than enable people to keep it for themselves. To illustrate this idea, we could effectively use the analogy of mathematics: it would be undesirable and ridiculous to patent an algorithm; no one possesses the Pythagorean Theorem. Free software is relevant at all levels: At the individual level - it allows the software to be shared with parents or friends or to facilitate problem solving via the software. It is of interest at the government level. For education - notably all schools of a country can use free software, study and modify what is inside to help their students develop expertise. At the level of security: a consensus emerged to say that transparency is the best defense against cyber criminals. Free software is however less attractive for businesses, as it is less profitable for them in comparison to the proprietary software because of competition. But companies use proprietary software to force a dependence on their customers and this is why we must absolutely reject this form of modern slavery.

What does FSF France concretely do?

FSF France was founded as the first association that I created just a year after I left EPITA, at a time when there weren't any associations bringing together supporters of free software. Today, the role of FSF France is largely supplemented by that of APRIL - an association of which I am an active member. It has 5,000 members and promotes free software to the general public. FSF France has two roles - in addition to that of April - it provides home to projects and defends the rights (of authors of free software) that have been violated.

What is the future for free software?

Twenty years ago, we would have never thought that free software would become so advanced. Today, 90% of sales of the software are in the form of service: we are thus already in a situation in which if the proprietary software disappears it will not fundamentally change the economic structure built around the software. On the other hand, the entire infrastructure of the Internet and its operative are open source, which is a major result. It is unclear how one could go back. Now all companies are supporting Free Software, including its enemies. Microsoft has changed its position on the subject. The movement has become global. Free software might be less lucrative straightaway (than proprietary software), but the economy it engenders is still profitable. I wish that APRIL reaches between 10 000 and 20 000 members to have a really strong role. FSF France will then confine itself to a representative role.

What did you learn during your training at EPITA?

I was one of the students of the first graduation class of EPITA, i.e. of 1986. At that time, the school was still located in the 18th district of Paris. The main reason I went there was for the big machines that were present at that time. This route played a major role in the development of my enthusiasm for computers. There was a lot of competition, and I was able to make good friends there.

Returning from Spain, Thierry Robert offers us his memories from his ERASMUS semester...

"I joined EPITA, after my high school graduation, to follow the 5-year curriculum. At the end of my third year of studies at EPITA, I entered the GISTR major to focus my studies on embedded and real time systems. Then I had the opportunity to do an Erasmus mobility in Spain before my final internship. I chose to do that, because I wanted to find an internship in Spain and the Erasmus exchange program was a good way to prepare myself.

I went for 5 months to San Sebastian, one of the three campuses of the University of the Basque Country. I lived there with local students as roommates, which allowed me to practice the Spanish language every day, to learn informal ways of speaking and to learn more about the Basque culture.

I also got in touch with a lot of Erasmus students from various countries, which has been a great occasion to discuss about our cultures. I met Germans, Austrians, Americans, Mexicans, Italians, Portuguese, Brazilians, etc. And we all became very good friends!

I followed classes from the third year study program. There are a lot of interesting courses mostly among the optional ones. In my opinion the general level of the courses is excellent, especially among the theoretical ones. But in the two practical courses that I chose, the teachers used to give much more time than at EPITA.

In addition to this, I followed the Spanish language course. It was really interesting because the university creates level groups and because almost all the Erasmus students of the campus were attending it.

Finally, I can say that I will never regret anything I have lived during my Erasmus mobility. It has been rich of experiences and cultural exchanges."

Leading an active and brilliant career, now alumn, Rabih Haddad took the time to reflect upon his graduate experience at EPITA:

1. Introduce yourself in a few words.

I come from Lebanon and I hold a master degree in Electrical Engineering. I arrived to Paris 2 years ago to join the International Master's Program and obtain another master in Information Systems Management after 9 years of professional experience in Project and Product management.

2. Why did you choose to pursue an International Master at EPITA?

I joined the IM at EPITA because I was searching for School that provides an international profile with a market related curriculum and high ranking in the French graduate schools. I found the academic curriculum of the IM highly correlated with IT market needs especially in France. Cross-Border Management, BI, CRM, ERP, SCM, KM, ... are good examples of this curriculum.

3. Describe your experience at EPITA as a graduate student in the International Master.

The alignment between the market needs and the proposed program serves as a career booster for every graduate. In addition to leading the academic courses in a very trendy way, the school provided us with several multinational extra-curricular activities. These activities enhanced our multicultural management and exposed us to the French way of living. Also, EPITA warm welcoming for International students eases the integration in the French community.

4. What strengths have you gained during your studies in Paris?

During my stay in Paris I have acquired strengths in various directions. EPITA has provided a robust academic backbone and my internship in Paris delivered a colored professional experience. Needles to mention the cultural exposure that any person will gain by just living in the 'city of lights'.

5. In your experience, what opportunities are available for EPITA students and graduates?

Besides the academics, EPITA students have access on campus to many facilities. There are more than 20 clubs and associations that help the students built their extra-curricular skills and allow them to interact with students from other faculties. In addition, EPITA organizes enterprise forums twice per year for the students to either find internship or an employment.

6. If you could recommend EPITA's International Master to a friend, colleague, family member or acquaintance, what keys aspects of your experience would you focus on?

I would say: IT market oriented curriculum, international profile, high ranked among the French graduate schools, up to date technology and computer labs, warm welcome as feeling like you are at home...

Consistently ranked among the best engineering schools in computer science, EPITA makes a point of honor to make research one of the fundamental components of its teaching. It offers a real training in research through research, integrating students within teams of teachers and researchers. Applied research is also present in the laboratories of the school to meet the needs in research and development of companies.

Why research is important for an engineering school?

Research is an intrinsic part of an engineering school. In fact we can not imagine a high-level training without a real overlap of research and teaching activities. This link is designed to allow students to carry out their studies by being immersed in the spirit of "research and innovation." Moreover, the participation of teachers in the activities of research laboratories ensures the constant updating of knowledge transmitted to students. Note also that if the original purpose of an engineering school is to prepare its students for business functions of all types, it is important to offer the opportunity to those who want to complete their studies with a doctorate or a PhD.

What is the role of research in EPITA?

Through the faculty members of the school, research is central in the teachings of common core and some specializations of the last year at EPITA. Indeed, almost all of the scientific and technical teachings of  EPITA are provided by the lecturers of the school, which ensures both the relevance of education and availability of permanent teachers with students. Three laboratories  coexist within EPITA: The Research and Development Laboratory of EPITA (LRDE), The Innovation Institute for Corporate IT (3IE) and The System Laboratory at EPITA (LSE).

Training in research through research?

If the will of many schools is to train research through research, it is clear that in many cases laboratories operate in parallel without impacting the education of students. We wanted, within EPITA, to make a real nest for students who are interested in teaching and research activities. To this end, the most motivated students have the opportunity to join research laboratories in the second half of the first year, during the first year of engineering. They enjoy the same working conditions as teachers and researchers and thus are truly immersed in research.

The students most interested in the fundamentals go up to the publication of articles in international conferences, even before the end of their studies, and many will continue with doctoral studies. For those who are more attracted to aspects of innovation, experience in research laboratories of the school will prepare them to join the research laboratories of companies and even create their own innovative structure.

How to give a taste of research to students?

To stimulate the interest of high school students to research and innovation, they are offered a seminar on the subject from the preparatory stage. For one week, faculty and industry present their business and  R&D activities. Students must then make a small innovative group project proposal. This is then reviewed by a committee of experts.

Successful projects may become the subjects of study for students following their education and lead to some of them towards the creation of a company. To date, more than 300 companies were created by former students of EPITA, and every year many thesis are supported by alumni of the school.

The laboratories of EPITA:

- The Research and Development Laboratory of EPITA (LRDE) focuses on basic research around image processing and modeling. This laboratory carries out many presentations each year at international conferences and participates in national level competitions.

- The System Laboratory at EPITA (LSE) is working on both aspects of research and development in the specific area of computer security. This laboratory has recently signed an agreement with the Central Office for Fighting Against Crime Related to Information and Communication Technology (OCLCTIC) to build a platform in collaboration with the intelligence services of the State.

- The Innovation Institute for Corporate IT  (3IE), is a structure to validate research at EPITA, specializing in innovative developments for SMEs as well as large industrial groups. It is accredited by the French Innovation Center as a center for transfer of skills. Every year, many companies rely on this laboratory for their project development. Today, many contracts are being carried out around the development of mobile applications.

To survive, humanity must divide its current ecological footprint by four by the year 2050.  Only the creative eco-innovation will make this ambitious goal achievable.  What is a creative eco-innovation? What is its relationship to Information and Communication Technology (ICT)?  Why is its ability to support major changes in behavior a key element to achieve the objectives of sustainable development? What are the characteristics common to all creative eco-innovations?  Is it necessary to be aware of their rebound effects?  Discover the innovations that will change your life in 5 years.

During this third edition of the Green IT Conference, several speakers will deliver their speeches in the afternoon, prior to hosting their round table from 1:30 to 7:00pm. There will be entrepreneurs from the high-tech industry, software publishers, journalists, and specialists in new technologies.

The event will conclude with a cocktail - the opportunity for participants to meet with stakeholders and discuss their experiences.

All about Green IT

EPITA has already organized two Green IT events - in 2009 and 2010.  The first was on the theme of "Green IT 1.0 / Green for IT" and the second on "Software at the Service of Sustainable Development."  A third event dedicated to Green IT is going to be held in the afternoon of 20 October, 2011 on EPITA's le Kremlin Bicêtre campus, on the theme of creative eco-innovations.

The objective of this third edition is to introduce the concept of creative eco-innovation through concrete examples. The speakers will, if possible, do a demonstration of their technology (with a few minutes of video).

All interventions focus on the creative eco-innovation, i.e. the innovation in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) aimed at reducing the ecological footprint of humanity by promoting behavioral change.  The two main ideas are "re-pooling" of goods and services (carpooling, cloud computing, etc...) and "management by exception" (precision farming, smart city, route optimization, etc.).

Click here for details and practical information.

Louis Vatier (EPITA 2012) participated in drafting of a book on the black markets of cybercrime.

In what context did you participate in drafting the book on black markets of cybercrime?

The book became part of the extension of my third year internship, which I started as an analyst watchman in a small team in charge of IT risks to the European Company of Strategic Intelligence (CEIS ), at SecuInsight, business intelligence company whose goal is to help clients protect their economic interests in the context of globalization and fierce competition.

This involves a lot of work on the directly available information with collection, analysis and cross-checking of weak signals. As an Engineering student at EPITA, my role was to survey and analyze IT security and new technologies more broadly and write briefings bound for our customers.

Why a White Paper on the black markets of cybercrime?

Shortly after the start of my internship a first report on the prices of certain products sold on the black markets of cyber-crime was published: it was the RSA report (the Security Division of EMC). The fact is that we concluded that if this report brought a first light on the subject, the dark side of the black market was not presented. What I mean by dark side is the economy, the business model behind it.

In addition, a number of clients of CEIS are banks and are directly affected by the cyber-crime. These considerations led us to develop in-house expertise, development that happens especially with the publication of the white paper on the black markets of cybercrime, which is a state of the art, both technically and economically.

Because of my training, I mainly studied the technical parts, especially the infrastructure set up for cybercrime. However, I also worked on the optimization of products sold on the black market, which involved detailed monitoring. The white paper is really an analysis. We did not simply draw up a simple statement or regurgitate figures that have no meaning.  In addition, we also offer solutions, a sort of bottle in the sea, to contain this plague.

What have you been able to draw out from this course and this publication?

I did not touch a line of code during my ten-month internship, which is unusual for a third year internship. I had the opportunity to use my dual expertise, developed in part during a Bachelor in applied mathematics and economics at Dauphine and the other during my school years at EPITA. Indeed, it allowed me to deal with technical information and make it understandable to our customers who do not have the technical and are mainly interested in the potential impact that IT security can have on their business.

The internship was a good way for me to build on the achievements of the first year of Engineering studies without doing much development.  I was also able to strengthen my analytical skills and raise my editorial level through this experience. The white paper includes a little of all the know-how accumulated throughout the internship.

My ultimate goal is to work in the strategy of Information Systems (IS). For this, we need a strong dual competence (Business Management and Information Technology), especially if you want to integrate in a big firm.

From June 20 to 26, the organizers assigned monitoring and maintenance of the network for different stands of the Paris Air Show (which beat the record number of entries this year) to Cristal - the business association of EPITA. Cristal made available two teams of six students from third and fourth years of EPITA and 6 students of Epitech. According to Yannick Peraste, president of Cristal "this is the first maintenance of this magnitude for Cristal. The network of this Air Show covers about 200 exhibition booths."

For students, this was an interesting operation in more than one way: it asked them for a strong team organization and allowed them to practice a certain amount of knowledge acquired at EPITA on aspects of "networks". "It was a concrete project of a definite scale and with some substantial issues. " said Yannick.

The intervention also enabled the association to expand its contact list. "The client was totally satisfied with our service and pleasantly surprised at the good level and autonomy of the whole team," said the president of the association. If maintenance operations account for only about 10% interventions of Cristal, this successful experience made the association gain a valuable reference on the subject.

What are your duties as a project manager at Gemalto in Singapore?

Gemalto is an essential player in the domain of IT security and particularly in the sector of smart cards like SIM cards, Bank cards, Insurance cards, Electronic Passports etc.

At the Singapore office, I am a project manager in banking and I manage a team of developers. Our team develops applications for VISA, MasterCard, American Express etc. that can be found in the pockets of millions of users in Asia as well as in Europe, Canada and around the world.

The time between development and distribution can be very short. It is both exciting and a little scary because you have to meet deadlines and ensure an excellent quality: the consequences of any failure on the ground can have a major impact.

Tell us about your journey after graduating from EPITA?

I did my graduation internship in the research department of Intel in Beijing on the theme of  compilation for multi-core processors. It was interesting, but I realized that I preferred to work in an industry where results are visible quickly, which is rarely the case in the areas of research.

In 2005, I came back to France and joined Gemalto. At first, as a R&D Engineer in France, then in Germany where I stayed for three years. I started with the development and testing of applications on credit cards. Then, wishing to stretch my legs, I took advantage of the national project of Gesundheitskarte in Germany (German Carte Vitale/National Health Care) for a complete change of position and occupy a role of pre-sales and technical coordination.

The work involved a lot of traveling through Germany, to find potential partners and distributors for the health card reader that we developed. The second role was participating in specification committees to understand the technical requirements (infrastructure, data storage, information security) related to this project, and ensure that our product be certified. At the end of my expatriation in Germany, I was sent to Singapore.

Why did you choose another country?

From a personal point of view, being abroad is quite exciting for me because I like exposure and  cultural pluralism. No need to go far to be out of place: I enjoyed Germany for its quality of life!

From a professional point of view, I am equally sure that having accepted my first assignment in Germany made me stand out and gave me some visibility within my company, when I had spent only six months there. This is a distinct advantage in an international company with ten thousand employees.

However, it is certain that being abroad is a major decision. In Singapore, my team is multicultural, consisting of Chinese, Indonesians, Filipinos, Malaysians and Indians. I realized that my usual method of communication will not necessarily work with many of them who have different habits. It is  therefore necessary to adapt!

Joël Courtois, Director of the school, presented degree awards to the 2010 cohort, in the presence of Mark Sellam and Fabrice Bardèche, president and vice president (respectively) of the IONIS Education Group. The ceremony was followed by a cocktail served in the lounge of UNESCO headquarters.

One academic year and three degrees

Joël Courtois highlighted two new features compared to previous academic years. It is indeed the first time when the school will award a Degree in Engineering through Apprenticeship along with the Degree in Engineering, as well as an International Master Degree validating a program taught entirely in English.

The school director also reminded graduates that they were lucky to have a trade so close to the issue of resource management, which is fundamental for the future. This trade is not only useful in all domains but also opens doors in all countries and all types of businesses.

Group memories & common projects

Pascale Dumas, vice president of HP, the sponsor of the 2010 class, was invited by Frédéric Fourdrinier, head of the health sector development at HP, and head of the "Information Systems and Software Engineering" ( LMIS) department of the school. The latter expressed his pride and confidence in these students who are a part of the Generation Y, and believes that they have "class, values and capabilities to meet the greatest technological challenges of the years to come."

Frank Leleu (EPITA 1992), consultant at ON-X and president of the Alumni Association, initiated these new entrants into the alumni community of the school and invited them to get involved in this group already counting 5600 members operating in more than 2000 companies. He also urged graduates to proudly represent the colors of their school, to increase projects and ideas in business, and to invest in the construction and consolidation of their network.

Cécile Stavaux, 2010 graduate, presented the Yearbook - aiming at bringing together former students of the academic year 2010 to celebrate about their memories.  It was created by a leading group of students with assistance of their peers, teachers, members of the administration and the cohort sponsor, Pascale Dumas.

You can now order the prints of pictures of the day or view them online.

I joined EPITA two years ago and I'm now near the end of my second year. During the second semester of InfoSpe, students have the possibility to go abroad for studying. Thus, a lot of different destinations are available such as Ireland, South Africa, etc, where universities have partnerships with EPITA. But EPITA also gives the possibility to go on an ERASMUS semester, with universities all around Europe.

After a lot of thought, I grabbed the opportunity and decided to apply for an ERASMUS semester, which I found a lot more attractive because only a few French students would be there and I would really improve my English by not speaking French. I applied for a semester in Finland, but why Finland? Because this was the most "exotic" country on the list, with habits totally different from what I'm used to in many aspects: way of living, climate, and mentality. But also because Tampere University of Technology is one of the most famous in Finland, with a great curriculum that offers global courses about management, information technology and programming.

During my five-month stay, I had to do a lot of written projects similar to documents that I will need to do in my future professional life. Thus, I had to study as if I was in a little company whose employees were the students I've been working with. I worked with many students from all over the world, which made me discover many cultures, ways of living and new friends.

During this Nordic trip, I had the chance to discover a lot of new cities thanks to the incredible location of Tampere. But Tampere remains the best such as it is mainly a student city (more than 60 000 students for 200 000 inhabitants) and all the social life around it.

This experience was the best of my life, and I wouldn't hesitate one second to advise you to go there. But, you have to be aware that the weather is cold, days are short and the winter is long.

Moutaib Ali (right) meeting with the president of the association

Cristal, what is it?

Cristal is an association of EPITA and Epitech, created in 1989 by Franck Leleu, the current president of the Alumni Association, with an aim of bringing the professional skills of students to perfection.

More than just offering a professional experience, Cristal allows students to actually apply their knowledge on practical cases. Students give their utmost to achieve the mission - real projects, that actually motivate you to work.

Cristal quickly became one of the largest associations in France, generating a turnover of over €500,000 and accounting hundreds of customers in 2010.

Why are enterprises interested in Cristal?

Cristal has a vigorous structure associated with a wide range of skills: application development, web development, iPhone / Android, professional training ... Many students acquire knowledge outside their curriculum, which significantly expands the circle of possible benefits: benefits in terms of databases (Access, Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server), networks (Firewall, Routing, Installation ), development (C, C + +, JAVA,. NET, Visual Basic, Perl), administration (UNIX, Windows, Apache, Mac OS) or multimedia / Internet (Director, Flash, ASP, PHP, JSP).

Moreover, its structure gives the association a real dynamism: the process of launching projects is very short, allowing developers to focus quickly on the job.

Finally, it is important to note that Cristal monitors the operations of younger companies and it charges lower prices of about 20 to 30% as proposed by the ITES (Information Technology Enabled Service Companies). The longevity of the association and the highly positive feedback reflects its seriousness.

Two members of Cristal at work

What are the plans this year?

One of the projects this year is the reconciliation with the Alumni network of the school that is of great importance. Cristal is indeed potentially a hub for connecting with the old and the best students of the school.

We are also planning a setup for the development of mobile applications, the introduction of a touch screen to display our projects, the redesigning of the website - which will better inform the students of available projects. The idea is to have more and more responsiveness vis-à-vis our clients.

The association is really motivated this year, and not without a reason: within less that 2 months we have already signed projects with two major French groups in energy sector, and there are projections of exceeding well beyond the last year sales.

Cristal Office

President: Yannick Péraste

Vice President: Ali Moutaib

Treasurer: Quentin Veilhan

The Jerome Lohez Foundation, created in November 2005 in honor of Jerome Robert Lohez (EPITA 1994) who lost his life in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, works in memory of those diverse citizens who perished in the 2001 attacks in New York. The institution's mission is to foster French and American unity and cultural understanding, by supporting scientific and technological exchanges in higher education. Each year, the Jérôme Lohez Foundation holds a gala to honor the recipients of the Lohez Scholarship to deserving French students who go to study in the United States.

During the 2011 awards ceremony, the cooperation agreement between EPITA and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, United States, was acknowledged. Three promising students, including Alban Pétré (EPITA 2011), currently in exchange with the Stevens Institute of Technology, were awarded scholarships.

From EPITA to the United States

Particularly attracted to New York after a first visit in 2009, the Epitean winner of this year entered Stevens Institute of Technology in Spring 2011. He looks forward to broadening his vision through an American educational experience, and he hopes that his time in the United States will allow him to promote cultural exchange while here and when he returns to France.

Alban worked at Société Générale for the global head of Risk Assessment & Controls. He worked on the creation of a methodology to improve web-browsing control of Société Générale system users and other security-related projects. He was praised by his professors and supervisors for his creativity and attention to details and his team spirit.

"Hundreds of EPITA veterans went through the Stevens Institute of Technology. These students eventually started their careers as managers in consulting and insurance firms in France or in the United States," says Joël Courtois, EPITA's Director, who represented the school at the ceremony.

A foundation that is gaining importance

In the early years of its inception, the foundation awarded only one scholarship to a student going on exchange from EPITA to the United States; it is now able to award three grants ranging from €1000 to €2000. It also expanded its laureates by including students from Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, New York University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique, Sciences Po, as well as the University  Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne.

Dening Lohez, wife of Jerome Lohez who created the foundation, explains: "My husband is a French citizen who died for an American cause. To honor his memory, I wanted to encourage exchanges between France and the U.S. to fight against misunderstandings between people and foster a spirit of cultural exchange." Exchange programs now have the wind in their sails.

This year the association Vivagora organized its landmark event "Parliament for the Future" on responsible innovation involving industrialists, experts and members of Parliament in the National Assembly. A student event entitled "Net Generation - The Why and Wherefore" was also organized  with the participation of New Generation Internet Foundation (Fing) on May 26 at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM).

Students of various IT schools including Sciences-Po Paris, ESSEC, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD), and Télécom Paritech talked about the impact of new technologies on the society. Four students from EPITA (and most of them from ITM) also participated in this event: Jeoffrey Fuhrer, Jean Romain Prevost, Jean Lauliac and Panos Baroudjian.

Speaking at the opening session, Manola Antonioli, the philosopher inspired by the ecosophy of Félix Guattari, said "The development in electronic tools is leading towards a true anthropological mutation and a new ecology of intelligence." The researcher, however, warned against a new form of pollution of the mind and against the madness potentially generated by the New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

ICTs in the service of sustainability?

The change brought by ICTs was doubly illustrated - by the students of ENSAD in the terms of aesthetics and those of EPITA, in terms of technology. The project presented by students of the arts school: a sort of anti-clock revealing time only when stimulated by its user. It proved to be an interesting and surprising project as it demonstrated how new technologies can move towards sustainability and not in the direction of dehumanization that is generally associated to progress. "This is an innovative electronic device designed as a way to fight against the power of the traditional clock that streamlines and splits our days. This is a way to return to an ecology of the world which is healthier and more natural" the students explained.

ICTs allow more potential but are also more humane

EPITA students optimistically illustrated the magnitude of breakdown brought by the use of new technologies. They emphasized their almost magical character and the ability to facilitate our daily lives. Geo-location, in the Orwellian dimension, allows locating individuals, as well as allowing them to locate and interact with their surroundings. Refined hardware and portability makes possible for us to use ICTs in a multitude of contexts.

As per EPITA students, there is no need to worry if a number of human intelligence skills are transferred to new technologies, because other skills are developed out of necessity in an inverse proportion, as per the Schumpeterian principle of creative destruction. In 2007 during a lecture at INRIA, Michel Serres said that the transfer of memory from the brain to the computer forced us to be more inventive and creative. EPITA students emphasized that ICTs do not make us more rational or more animals, but more humane and more intelligent. The students of Telecom Paritech carefully exposed the role of new technologies in the process of Arab revolution for freedom.

How to deal with resource depletion?

Students at Sciences-Po Paris meanwhile reported alarming projections showing that the accelerated development of new technologies and demand for purer and more specific metals to achieve the best performance is in the process of leading to the depletion of minerals concerned. "The problem is that despite the depletion of resources, companies continue to adopt a utilitarian logic, under the combined effects of market pressure, regulatory pressure and the pressure from stakeholders." said a student from ESSEC.

He also stated: "It is the characteristic of innovation to solve the problems of the past while creating new ones. However, the scope of action going beyond that of knowledge, companies may decide to bet on the future and forget the precautionary principle and prefer to focus on the medium term, rather than the more uncertain and indefinite long term. This is the way they think. This does not mean that we should not pursue a further reflection to have a lesser 'short-term based' development. On the contrary, this reflex should be developed."

"My first year at EPITA, InfoSUP, was quite new for me of course, with a totally different rhythm compared to high school. The first semester of the second year, InfoSPE, was the continuity of the InfoSUP-year, but the main difference is the second semester abroad, which I was really looking forward to.

I chose Prague for different reasons. The main one is that I really wanted to be in a language immersion. This semester was a unique chance to improve my English and I knew that only two of us decided to go there. So when I arrived in Prague, I wasn't with any other French students and I was forced to speak English (which is exactly what I wanted). I spent most of my semester speaking English with people with various nationalities (Spanish, German, Italian, Hungarian, Latvian, Swedish, Finnish, American, etc.). I'm really happy that I managed to spend most of the semester speaking English.

The Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) is a very famous university. I followed 7 different classes there and all of them were very good. The teachers at CTU are very professional and friendly at the same time. So I studied for one semester in a very good atmosphere.

I discovered here a different way of studying; the university way of doing things, which is different compared to EPITA. And as we were in English classes with almost only foreign students, the teachers were nice and they adapted their classes.

On top of that, the "Erasmus spirit" allowed me to meet a lot of people, because everyone is open and ready to talk. Even if I spent more time with foreign students than with Czech students, the ones I met were very nice.

Before I left EPITA, I saw a presentation made by students who went to Prague the past years and they seemed really happy about the time they had spent there. That's why I wanted to go there, too.

In addition to that, the cost of living is a lot cheaper than in most of the others countries (Ireland, England, Germany, Spain).

Even if I didn't go to the others countries, I spoke with friends who went there and I think that I really made the best decision for my semester (especially because of the English immersion idea), and I really recommend to anyone who wants to improve his/her English and have a great time to go in Prague."

Meetic, Accor Group, TF1, Safran, Societe Generale, Court of Audit of France and other companies from various sectors, came to introduce themselves to first year Epiteans during the Speed Dating Week, studded with individual appointments to key internships.

Software companies, startups, telecom operators, and major industrial accounts offered positions of such as web developer, mobile application developer, web analyst, technical consultant, system and network administrator, community manager, as well as assistant project manager.

Qualities such as versatility, technical skills, adaptability and passion of EPITA students are the main reasons for the attractiveness of Epiteans with enterprises and their success as professionals.

Watch the event video (http://video.epita.fr/video/speed-dating/914.html) with Laurent Trébulle, Director of Careet Services at  EPITA, Luc Panthin, IT Project Manager at TF1, Cedric Le Dressay, President of Eugen Systems and Akim Demaille, Chief Software Architect.

The event, which brought together leading personalities from the universe of the web, was held at the Tuileries in Paris on May 24 & 25.

The living myths Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Eric Schmidt (Google), John Donahoe (eBay), along with other players of the Internet economy, gathered for the first time in Paris for the e-G8 forum with the participation of French political personalities including Nicolas Sarkozy, Christine Lagarde, Eric Besson and Frédéric Mitterrand. They met to discuss major economic and political issues arising in today's Internet, a social phenomenon that has become unavoidable and essential. Being the main players of education in the IT domain, the director of EPITA and the vice president of Group IONIS were among the guests.

The meeting, which was to bring out proposals for the digital economy to be presented to the G8, was able to outline the current issues including the regulation of copyrights, Internet neutrality, regulating, as well as expanding access and use of broadband. Here is a look over the issues raised by the forum that will play their role in the future of the Internet:

Copyrights, quarrel of old and modern?

On one side the culture industry and politicians are in favor of better regulation on the copyrights and for a reflection on an expansion of international standards; on the other side, some major players made themselves the champions of deregulation in the name of freedom of expression that the Internet has greatly increased, allowing the free movement of cultural works. According to them, the old system is no longer valid and new forms of remuneration for authors should be developed: the technical transformation necessarily involves a transfer of economic, industrial and normative frameworks.

Net Neutrality threatened?

Whether it's communication operators, Contend Delivery Networks (CDN) or hosts, the various providers who take care of infrastructure for data exchange are important means of control that should under no circumstances use to promote or discriminate against a user. Net neutrality is indeed a founding principle of freedom of expression on the Internet that excludes any discrimination regarding the source, destination or the information content transmitted over the network. This neutrality is questioned when some of these providers, e.g. Google, are in a situation of virtual monopoly in their field. It also raises the question of the limits of data control that can be imposed by the politicians.

Regulation or self regulation?

On one side the ethical issues of regulation such as the fight against terrorism, the protection of minors, the protection of copyrights and anti-monopolies struggle were highlighted by the politicians, while on the other side manufacturers discussed the risk of drying up of businesses by excessive legislation and the ability of technology to develop its own controls. One possible compromise would be a more flexible legislation on the Internet with regular reviews of the law enabled by an enhanced frequency of meetings between the industrialists and the policy makers. The establishment of the National Digital Council (CNN) by Nicolas Sarkozy opens the way for this type of operation.

The extension of the Internet to a maximum number

The "Third Globalization", represented by the Internet, asks to minimize the digital divide and expand broadband access to as many people as possible in the name of the principle of equality. This is an issue on which different players gave their accord.

At the seminar "ICT and Geopolitics" organized by EPITA in partnership with the EGE on March 24, the second round table conference brought together experts from the economic intelligence and information systems around reflections on the best strategies in the information war.

Is the defensive posture enough?

For Christian Harbulot, director of the Ecole de Guerre Economique (EGE), "we cannot ignore the assessment from the information war. However, as in any war, the one who attacks has the advantage over one who defends. On the other hand, an informational attack is much cheaper than industrial espionage and is much more relevant. So let's not just address the problem through the defensive attitude, as we tend to do in France or in democracies in general who are struggling to view the attack as legitimate. "

The attack has several comparative advantages over the defense, as explains Etienne Drouard, lawyer and leader of the team "New technologies and intellectual property" at Morgan Lewis Law Firm: "the attack prevails on the defense by its priority in time and its relative speed. Being in defense is more complicated because the operation needs a lot of backing up. The immediate diagnosis of an attack involves several skills. "

Certainly, highlighting the advantages of the attack does not necessarily encourage the posture of the attacker, but at least reinforces the idea that we must take particular care to the defense. "The defense asks for a detailed analysis of risks, methodology and experience," said Serge Saghrouni, head of the Security of Information Systems (RSIS) at Accor.

"The Right of Response"

However, from the moment we are under attack, the attack is legitimate, at least in the form of the response. The problem is mainly to successfully identify the origin of attacks. Serge Saghrouni explains: "To attack, you must know what to attack. Who are they, do they have a real desire? The means and interests, how to identify them? These are questions to be asked. "

The conclusion is scathing: "We must stop with the syndrome of the Maginot line and organize effective response capacity, conceptualize scenarios to prepare against possible attacks." says Eric J. Delbecque, Head of "Department of Economic Security" at the "National Institute of Advanced Studies in Security and Justice" (INHESJ). If one believes in this unanimity in favor of the attack, the time to think on the subject has ended. There is nothing more but to take action.