Context

In February 2021, the President of the French Republic announced the launch of the National Cybersecurity Acceleration Strategy, built around four key priorities:

• Developing sovereign cybersecurity solutions;
• Strengthening collaboration and synergies among industry players;
• Supporting demand (from individuals, businesses, local authorities, and the State), notably through awareness campaigns and the promotion of national solutions;
• Training more young people and professionals to address the significant talent gap in cybersecurity.

To uphold the excellence of French research in this field, the strategy includes funding for a Priority Research Program and Equipment (PEPR) in cybersecurity (more information here). This program is scientifically coordinated by the CEA, CNRS, and Inria, and aims to:

• Launch ambitious scientific challenges;
• Build strong and collaborative research communities;
• Drive scientific breakthroughs;
• Develop disruptive technologies that will benefit the entire French cybersecurity ecosystem.

The SecurEval project: Evaluating the Security of Digital Systems

This project falls under the Systems Security theme of the Cybersecurity PEPR. It focuses on the evaluation of digital system security, through compliance and vulnerability analyses. The goal is to produce trusted cybersecurity assurance, a cornerstone of digital sovereignty and European strategic autonomy.

France has long-standing expertise in this domain. However, with the increasing complexity of both cyberattacks and systems to be evaluated, it is now essential to reinforce this expertise with cutting-edge scientific and technical innovation, encompassing both hardware and software assessments.