2021, the end of cyberspace as a lawless zone?

2021 has been an eventful year for cyberspace. Ransomware attacks of unprecedented scale have taken place like Revil’s against software company Kaseya, which has affected more than 1,000 companies. Or that of Darkside against the oil company Colonial Pipeline which cut off the fuel supply to a whole part of the United States. But this cyber wild west, whose consequences on the economy and on our lives are by no means virtual, has also seen players assert themselves in an attempt to regulate it: certain states, mainly European and North American.

The explosion of attacks since the start of the pandemic

Cyber ​​attacks have exploded since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, especially those that use ransomware. Called ransomware in French, this software takes data hostage by encrypting it, which makes it unreadable without the decryption key that the hacker has. A sesame that he is ready to provide, for a ransom, unfortunately often paid.

All sectors are affected by this explosion in cybercrime activity, from businesses to individuals, including public administrations and hospitals. But the surprise of States in the face of this new major threat – the current American administration goes so far as to compare it to the terrorist risk – has given way to reinforced action against this international crime.

An imperative state reaction to the threat

These states have never been absent from cyberspace, but they have had to beef up their response. Against this multitude of international pirate networks, and especially against the general structuring of a highly organized parallel market from the development of malware to the sale of vulnerable targets. For the target countries, these repeated attacks and their cost, which amounts to billions of dollars, have become a priority issue.

Police and legal action was therefore organized with international cooperation. Arrests of cybercriminals were extremely rare until 2021, a situation that is changing. A lot of the net has taken place this year with the help of governmental and international agencies such as Europol and Eurojust.

We can cite the dismantling in February of the Emotet botnet, this gigantic network of machines that hackers used to launch attacks, and the arrest of some of its operators in Ukraine. Or the repeated actions (safeguards corrupted by the FBI, identification of one of its members in Russia, arrest of two others in Romania) against the REvil group, a follower of ransomware and then considered one of the most feared of cyberspace . And so many ongoing legal proceedings with, in some cases, heavy sentences already handed down, especially in the United States.

Divergent interests on the international scene

The noose seems to be tightening against many of these cybercriminal groups, but to read their imminent eradication is more than presumptuous. The fight against these malicious actors often comes up against the borders of countries like Russia, which offers them relative impunity, beyond the reach of the FBI and the European police services. However, the subject officially emerges in geopolitical negotiations, the Biden administration and the G7 having repeatedly asked during the summer of 2021 for the Kremlin to collaborate in the fight against cybercrime.

However, it remains difficult to ignore that many states are not seeking to pacify cyberspace. Iran, North Korea, China or Russia play a more or less direct role in certain waves of cyberattacks, directed against their geopolitical enemies or their strategic rivals. This battlefield 2.0 is a new space for confrontation, and the increase in international tensions in Eastern Europe and the Pacific does not bode well for any lull.

An ever-present threat

Despite actions taken in 2021, ransomware attacks remain the main threat. This phenomenon is difficult to measure, even for the Interior Ministry in France, but it shows no signs of slowing down. After the police actions, some dismantled operators reformed and adapted.

More generally, cyber attacks continue and find other targets. Cryptocurrency-related service platforms, for example, were particularly targeted throughout the year, with several thefts exceeding the hundred million dollars stolen. Awareness of cyber risks is more and more general, with an evolution in security practices, but the number of large-scale vulnerabilities regularly discovered, such as the extremely serious Log4shell, leaves little hope for respite for 2022.