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France Creates New National IT Security Agency

France has created a new national IT systems security agency to better defend its IT networks.

The French Networks and Information Security Agency (FNISA) will conduct a round-the-clock watch on sensitive government networks in order to detect and respond to cyberattacks.

That mission is increasingly important, as U.S. and South Korean government authorities have battled this week with attacks on their information infrastructures.

The French agency will also advise government departments and commercial network operators on best practices, and provide information about information security threats and how to avoid them to the general public.

In addition, FNISA will help develop trusted IT products and services for use by French companies and government networks. The possibility that key network infrastructure purchased from foreign suppliers could contain hidden “back doors” allowing them to spy on communications has become a concern for governments in recent years. A plan by Chinese network equipment manufacturer Huawei Technologies to acquire a stake in U.S. vendor 3Com in 2007 fell apart after U.S. lawmakers raised questions about the potential effect on national security.

FNISA was set up at the request of President Nicolas Sarkozy following a review of defense and national security last year. Its creation was announced in the government’s Official Journal on Wednesday.

The agency is recruiting, and the vacancies to be filled give a taste of what concerns it.

For one post, it is looking for an engineer with experience in securing VOIP systems — on desktop and mobile systems.

Another post will deal with the security of the physical layer of wireless communications systems, including Wi-Fi networks and contactless payment systems.

There are no clues which way the agency leans in the description of a post dealing with operating system security: neither Windows nor Linux gets a mention, although the ideal candidate will have experience of virtualization and compartmentalization of processes.

FNISA will take the place of an existing government agency, the Central Information Systems Security Division, which was set up in 2001 to advise the government and provide information to the general public on information security threats. Both agencies, old and new, fall under the control of the General Secretary for National Defense.



 

Tech Mahindra wins bid for Satyam

India’s Tech Mahindra won a bidding auction for fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services on Monday, in a deal that could lift the mid-sized outsourcer into the top tier of local software services firms.

Satyam said Tech Mahindra agreed to buy a 31 percent stake at 58 rupees per share — a 23 percent premium to Satyam’s last closing price — edging out bids from engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, which had been seen as a front-runner, and U.S.-based outsourcing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Local television said the 51 percent stake would cost 28.9 billion rupees ($580 million).

Tech Mahindra shares surged by as much as 25 percent after Larsen & Toubro, which owns 12 percent of Satyam, was reported to have dropped out of the bidding, but trimmed their gains to trade 14 percent higher by 0705 GMT.

Satyam shares were up 6.4 percent at 50.15 rupees, after earlier jumping 16 percent to a nine-week high.

Satyam’s government-appointed board met in Mumbai to go over the bids submitted for a 51 percent stake in the outsourcing company. The winning bid has to be approved by the Company Law Board, which said it expected Satyam to seek approval within 2-3 days.

Three months ago, Satyam’s founder and chairman shocked investors by saying profits had been overstated for years, and put in doubt the survival of a company once ranked as India’s fourth-largest software services exporter.

The government quickly stepped in and sacked the board to limit damage to India’s once-shining IT services sector.