« The Tehtris platform equips customers with all the tools to automatically detect and counter attacks. It also allows them to analyze behaviors to identify attacks in preparation, in order to take measures as early as possible without waiting to suffer the sometimes harsh consequences. It is not Elena Poincet or Laurent Oudot who extol the advantages of this Girondine company, but Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister Delegate for Digital, who takes on the role of Tehtris ambassador. The day after the adoption by the deputies of his law project on digital security, he was in Pessac, near Bordeaux, to inaugurate Tehtris’ new premises. This company was founded in 2010 by Elena Poincet, CEO, and Laurent Oudot, technical director, both former members of the DGSE. This rare ministerial mobilization testifies to the urgency of finding effective solutions in the face of the growing scale of cyber malice. »
Located in the heart of the former industrial wasteland Amperis and just a stone’s throw away from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Cyber Campus, the 5,600 square meters of bright and functional offices already house 180 out of Tehtris’ 260 employees. The company, which raised 44 million euros just a year ago, made a name for itself by detecting the Pegasus spyware in 2021.
Une solution « hyper-automatisée »
And if it does not have the scale of the French cybersecurity heavyweights such as Thales, Atos or Orange Cyberdefense, Tehtris is already widely internationalized. « We have commercial offices in Paris, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Denmark, as well as technical teams in Tokyo and Vancouver to be operational 24/7 regardless of our clients’ time zones, » says Laurent Oudot, the technical director.
Parmi ses clients, Tehtris compte des entreprises du CAC 40 comme des ETI et PME mais aussi le ministère des Armées, les métropoles de Bordeaux et Marseille, les aéroports de Bordeaux, Paris et Marseille ou encore la région Ile-de-France. Le tout pour un chiffre d’affaires non communiqué mais qui atteint plusieurs dizaines de millions d’euros. « En dix ans, Tehtris est devenue une ETI d’envergure mondiale, c’est un parcours exemplaire qui correspond à la stratégie régionale d’être un pont plus loin en matière technologique », salue Alain Rousset, le président de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, également présent.
The company has created and developed its own cybersecurity platform, which is described as « hyper-automated » thanks to artificial intelligence components. « With our CyberIA solution, we are able to detect 10,000 threats per minute, far surpassing human capabilities as it would require 20,000 people to achieve the same manually, » explains Elena Poincet. It is this combination of automation and anticipation that allows Tehtris to offer a « cyber-vaccine » to its clients. Even as the CEO of the company portrays « a dark period where digital means are used without limits, without borders, without ethics » to « threaten, trap, attack, and destroy » businesses, administrations, and democratic elections.
Une massification des attaques
« Since last summer, cyberattacks have targeted companies as well as hospitals in Corbeil-Essonnes and Versailles, the departments of Seine-Maritime, Alpes-Maritimes, and Seine-et-Marne, the regions of Normandy and Guadeloupe, and the municipalities of Lille, Chaville, and Sartrouville, » listed Jean-Noël Barrot, before mentioning « the hundreds of millions, or even billions or tens of billions, of expected intrusion attempts with the hosting of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. »
C’est précisément à cette problématique de massification des cyberattaques qui concernent désormais tout le monde que Tehtris est en mesure de répondre. « Nous sommes passés d’attaques ciblées en fonction de la capacité à payer, à des attaques massives qui visent indifféremment les États, les grandes entreprises comme les TPE, les PME et les particuliers. Il y a un enjeu crucial de passage à l’échelle pour faire face à ce phénomène », prévient Guy Flamant, le directeur général du Campus cyber de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, pour qui « le vaccin est le système immunitaire développé par Tehtris sont une partie de la solution ».
« I cannot reword »
Cybermenaces : un basculement à l’Est
He explains that the other trend, 18 months after the start of the war in Ukraine, is a shift towards the East of cybercrime actors.
« On observe que les réseaux de cybercriminalité activés traditionnellement par la Russie en Ukraine et Europe de l’Est se sont déplacés vers l’Est et opèrent désormais depuis la Chine et la Corée du Nord avec des missions renouvelées notamment pour attaquer les banques et le secteur financier en Europe. »
Tehtris still has a lot of work ahead, and as the French Tech celebrates its ten years, Jean-Noël Barrot wants to make it a flagship: « Elena Poincet is an extremely rare profile in cybersecurity and she should be a role model at the head of a cybersecurity company that employs 30% of women! […] Tehtris is an example for the upcoming decade where France will have to develop leading companies in deeptech for ecological transition, health, and protection of digital infrastructures. »
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