French PM announces creation of unit to combat cyberattacks

Paris – French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Thursday the establishment of a dedicated cyber‑defence unit aimed at bolstering the nation’s response to increasingly frequent cyberattacks. The move comes after a series of high‑profile intrusions into the websites of government services, which exposed significant gaps in the country’s IT security infrastructure. The new unit, to be integrated within the Ministry of the Interior, will coordinate with the national cybersecurity agency ANSSI and existing Computer Emergency Response Teams to centralise threat monitoring, incident response and forensic analysis.

Officials indicated that the unit will be equipped with a suite of tools ranging from real‑time intrusion‑detection systems and threat‑intelligence platforms to offensive capabilities that can disrupt malicious actors’ infrastructure. While the initiative expands France’s defensive posture, authorities acknowledge that the rapidly evolving nature of cyber threats requires continual assessment of whether current measures are sufficient. The government plans to review the unit’s effectiveness annually, aiming to ensure that France’s cyber‑security framework remains robust against future attacks.