In the current geopolitical context, more and more French companies are looking for Franco-French cybersecurity solutions, or at least European, no longer requiring their data to be processed abroad. This new argument, sovereignty, strengthens the strengths of Reunion’s number one cybersecurity company, Exodata, with its overseas establishment model, which allows it to provide a continuous service from French territories. Julien Mauras’ explanations, founder and CEO of Exodata.
Meeting Leader : Can we assess the level of cyber risk in Reunion? ?
Julien Mauras : The same as everywhere else. In cybercrime, the Covid crisis is a marker of time. The implementation of teleworking, with the opening of computer systems in a certain haste, has led to an increase in attacks globally, with increasingly sophisticated methods and increasingly structured organizations with increasingly significant resources. We have seen how IT systems in the health sector have become favored targets, including in Reunion. The island is obviously not spared. This is the observation we make every day. The few cases of ransomware that have been made public are just the tip of the iceberg.. Every week, businesses in Reunion are being attacked. Local SMEs have already lost significant sums.
Is awareness of the threat up to par? ?
This is the paradox of the situation : if people are aware of the danger, cybercrime does not seem to arouse any more concern. We still find business leaders in Reunion who are convinced that this does not concern them. ! Cybersecurity activity is growing, but it didn't explode. It is certain that protecting yourself is expensive, and even more and more expensive because, to cope with the skill of hackers, cybersecurity companies are forced to invest in increasingly expensive skills. However, it must be repeated that cybersecurity will always cost less than a cyberattack with its consequences on the company's activity. Not investing in cybersecurity today, it’s making a bold bet. It can be compared to driving without insurance..
Where does the main vulnerability come from? ?
The economic fabric of Reunion is made up of 90% small businesses, who depend on IT like all businesses these days. But small businesses are easier to attack. And the cost of providing cybersecurity increases, protecting themselves forces them to make the big gap between their needs and their possibilities. The cybersecurity resource center project led by Réunion THD, which will come to fruition in the coming months, will provide an answer to this problem, especially with free cyberdiagnostics. We will be one of the helping partners in this process.
This also means that Exodata’s service offering evolves depending on the threat. ?
Of course. We implement new tools and new techniques, like fake phishing to see who gets tricked by clicking, to enable companies to raise awareness among their staff based on concrete examples. We also offer intelligent anti-viruses that, in case of attack, automatically take measures to isolate the infected workstation. However, our strong point remains, through our presence in Overseas Territories, remote monitoring of information systems, Round the clock, seven days on seven, i.e. Follow-The-Sun mode *. This market, the SOC **, exploded. We are currently deploying around ten SOC solutions adapted to the monitoring needs of business systems..
Between internal and external growth, how Exodata is growing now ?
Exodata saw double-digit growth in 2023, with a doubling of its volume of activity and a turnover of 15 million euros. In 2024, growth continues. We estimate it for the whole year at 30 or 35%. Today we employ 150 employees, half of whom are stationed in Reunion. Cybersecurity and cloud hosting are the two big drivers of our growth. The cloud, related to cybersecurity, is considered a solution to preserve data in the event of an attack. We continue our development on the metropolitan market, where we have had great successes. Among these successes, I will cite the trust placed in us by five banks, including two international banks, as well as the RATP. The Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens retained us to supervise its IT system during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, then throughout the development of its network as part of the Greater Paris project. An additional argument works in our favor due to the international conflict context. We are now talking about Follow-The-Sun sovereign. With our locations in the French Overseas Territories, not only does the sun never set on Exodata, but all our teams are watching and are ready to intervene at any time from French territories, where French and European law apply. This notion of sovereignty refers to the exclusively French character of all our locations.. This sovereign Follow-The-Sun model has become Exodata’s strategic model.
The cloud is seen as a cybersecurity solution ?
This activity is booming because it is considered, indeed, as a way to secure your data by entrusting it to a better equipped third party. With the cloud, the company transfers the cyber risk to the data host. The cloud also provides a hybrid solution by allowing data to be distributed between several data centers to reduce the risk of losing everything.. But this use of the cloud requires hosts to have increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity resources and skills themselves., that is to say of a critical size allowing them to do so. Fortunately, the cloud was the basis of the Exodata project in 2011 and that, from the start, we judged that getting started in the cloud required cybersecurity skills. We have over a decade of cloud experience and development.
Backing up data is not enough ?
In practice, people make backups, more, most of the time, they keep them inside the company, connected to the network ! But backup in business, its backup systems, are also targeted by hackers.
Is artificial intelligence changing the cybersecurity equation? ?
We are currently carrying out research and development work on the evolution of our professions, in order to define an offer on AI that we can offer to our customers. AI poses the ethical problem of the relationship with truth. How to use it wisely and safely ? I remind you that Reunion Island has not been spared by what we call “scams against the president”. Reunionese business leaders have already been trapped, with losses estimated at several hundred thousand euros. The response to this type of attack requires awareness and an organization establishing procedures.. More generally, the rule must always be the same : whenever there is the slightest doubt, there is no doubt.
* Follow-The-Sun : Exodata is established in New Caledonia, in the Indian Ocean in Reunion and Mauritius, in France, in the Antilles and Guyana, i.e. six points of presence in the world. ** SOC : security operation center.
