MALTEM partners with the NERA Institute and provides the first sovereign crisis management response to cyber-attacks
June 2021 by Marc Jacob
In order to fight against the growing risk of cyber attacks and their consequences for companies, Maltem Cyber Security and the Institute of Negotiation and Applied Research (NERA) are combining their expertise. Together, they decided to create in 2021 the first French cyber crisis cell by coordinating their skills in negotiation and IT intervention. Their modus operandi in the face of ransomware attacks was the subject of a report on M6 on June 6, 2021 at 7:45 pm. Let’s take a look at this unique partnership and how it works.
A sovereign response to ransomware
Faced with the upsurge in cyber attacks this past year - 80% of companies have been attacked over the past 12 months - specialists from the NERA Institute and Maltem Cyber Security have decided to combine their expertise to form a special intervention unit. This alliance of skills in both cyber negotiation and IT intervention, aims to provide the fastest and most effective response strategy in the event of an attack.
For this purpose, the NERA Institute has set up a Cyber Crisis Negotiation Team (CCNT) composed of experts from elite police units, experienced in crisis negotiation. For its part, Maltem provides a team of engineers dedicated to neutralizing the threat from a technological and IT perspective.
“Responding to a ransomware attack requires a global response that combines negotiation and IT intervention. With my negotiation partner Laurent Maury, former head of the RAID negotiation unit, we work according to the same logic as in the case of a physical ransom demand. At the same time, we coordinate our interventions with those of the IT team in order to maximize our efficiency and have the fastest possible crisis resolution ", explains Julien PELABERE, PhD in complex negotiation and founder of the Nera Institute.
The management of a cyber attack presented on M6
On June 6, 2021, the M6 teams showed the general public how the Maltem / NERA Institute crisis unit works following a real ransomware attack. Viewers will experience minute by minute the unfolding of the crisis management, negotiation and intervention of the IT teams deployed to fight the attack thanks to this first French global and sovereign coordinated solution.
“"In the case of a ransomware attack, negotiators and an intervention column are essential. In the case of ransomware, the intervention force is represented by our IT specialists who must deploy themselves as efficiently as possible to enable the affected company to resolve the crisis as quickly as possible. The cooperation with a team of negotiators allows the digital investigation team to have time to refine the technical response according to the hackers’ behavior ", explains Yves Le Thiec, Cybersecurity Specialist and Security Consultant for Maltem.