Sopra Steria commits to the fight against information manipulation

Jul 10, 2024 | minute read

Paris, 10 July 2024 - Sopra Steria, a major player in the European tech sector, is sharing its advances in terms of fight against information manipulation, the fight against cyber-influence and information warfare. Sopra Steria has unveiled the first building block of a tool designed to integrate information warfare into combat information systems, and has formalised the creation of a think tank, called Pégase.

Cyril Malargé, CEO of the Sopra Steria Group, says: "While information warfare has accelerated significantly in the past few years, demonstrating both its importance in high-intensity conflicts and its impact on the very functioning of our democracies, we are today mobilising around this issue.

In today's world, information is more precious than ever, and its enemies more numerous. We are fortunate to be part of an extensive and committed French and European ecosystem in the fight against information manipulation, and we want to actively contribute. By sharing our progress and creating our think tank Pégase, we are seizing a strategic opportunity to defend our democratic values, European sovereignty and collective security", says Cyril Malargé, CEO of the Sopra Steria Group.

Strengthening the nation's resilience in hybrid warfare

At the Eurosatory international defence and security exhibition, Sopra Steria unveiled the first elements of a system for analysing information flows in the event of a conflict. Combined with a C2 (Command and Control) centre, this system demonstrates how the monitoring and analysis of informational movements can be part of a multi-domain approach, for better control of battlefields. At the same time, Sopra Steria is working with its partners, many of them start-ups, to develop an end-to-end solution for detecting and reacting to informational attacks, particularly those generated using artificial intelligence, for businesses.

In addition to developing digital solutions dedicated to armies, Sopra Steria Group plays a major role in the most ambitious initiatives in France. For example, Sopra Steria plays an active role in the Cyber Pole of Excellence, an initiative launched in 2014 under the aegis of the Armed Forces Ministry and the Brittany Region with the aim of developing the French cybersecurity and cyberdefence ecosystem. Sopra Steria is also active at a European level as part of the coalition led by Make.org around a "Democratic shield", whose mission was to ensure the security and integrity of the European elections.

To develop these solutions, Sopra Steria draws on its recognised technological expertise, that of its partners and the consulting expertise of its Sopra Steria Next teams. The latter are essential to design these solutions, and are involved in defining processes, strategic intelligence on the fight against information and drawing up recommendations specific to each problem.

Jean-Luc Gibernon, business development manager in cyber activities at Sopra Steria:"We are faced with a new phenomenon in which the manipulation of information is one of the usual means of destabilisation. Despite growing awareness and visible political mobilisation at national and European level, there is still no unified system capable of providing an effective, appropriate and coordinated solution, particularly from a technological point of view. This is the challenge we are taking up today with Sopra Steria and Pégase, a genuine forum for exchange and innovation, which brings together French know-how and operational capabilities to combat disinformation”.

Pégase, a think tank dedicated to the fight against information manipulation

Sopra Steria and Sopra Steria Next are aware of the threat to French and European sovereignty posed by the use of information technology, and have made official the creation of a think tank dedicated to the fight against misinformation and the manipulation of information, and the fight against the use of information technology for influence (L2I). Named Pégase, this think tank aims to contribute to the national information defence effort.

The aim of Pegasus is to promote and contribute to reflection and to the construction of a French strategy on the critical subject of disinformation. It aims to contribute to the effort to simplify and structure this new field of research and application, and to specify its organisation and methods, associated with tools or procedures. To do this, it relies on a collective approach open to all stakeholders in society: industrial, political, institutional, media, academic, etc.

General Bruno Courtois, coordinator of Pégase and defence and security advisor to the Sopra Steria group, comments: "With our think tank Pégase, we are creating a space for dialogue and cooperation between the players involved in the fight against information manipulation, whether they come from the academic, institutional, media, voluntary or entrepreneurial worlds. We are convinced that it is by combining different viewpoints and skills that we will be able to provide effective and ethical responses to this major challenge facing our society, and ultimately contribute to improving the conceptual and capability information arsenal in France and Europe"

Through all these actions, Sopra Steria is stepping up its efforts to combat information manipulation, whether through Pégase, a genuine forum for decompartmentalisation and innovation, or through the performance of its engineers and consultants, who are both "performance integrators" and "technological scouts" in the fight against information manipulation.