Sophie Boyer de la Giroday delivers keynote on the status of identity programs worldwide at exclusive gathering of public sector officials held under the Patronage of the French Prime Minister and attended by the Minister of Interior, Minister of justice and the Secretary of State in charge of the digital agenda

Paris and Zürich, 26 April 2018 – An exclusive inter-ministerial event opened its doors in Paris on April 25-26 to discuss the outline of the French National ID program in light of the European Commission’s eIDAS regulation for eIDs and trust services for electronic transactions that goes into effect on 29 September 2018. Sophie Boyer de la Giroday, President of Wise Media, was invited to deliver the keynote speech on the status of digital identity programs worldwide on the morning inaugurating the two-day event that saw the participation of the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice, and the Secretary of State in charge of the Digital Agenda at the office of the Prime Minister.

Attended by an exclusive audience of policy makers, public sector officials from across France and various government representatives involved in the inter-ministerial project launched earlier this year, the congress openedits doors with three French government ministers sharing their vision for the new identity program and engaged participants during a first day of closed-doors working sessions on aspects such as security, privacy and ease of use in order to develop a set of recommendations for the three ministries involved. A series of round tables on the second day was organized to share key takeaways also with the press.

“France has a unique position in the European context,” said Sophie Boyer de la Giroday, President of Wise Media during her keynote speech on the first morning of the event. “On one hand, its smart card industry boasts some of the leading players worldwide, while – on the other – the country remains among the last to put in place a modern identity system for its citizens and residents. This gives France the opportunity to be truly innovative and rethink many of the assumptions attempted to date on the far-reaching ramifications of digital identity programs. Beyond combining aspects such as security and ease of use, this means factoring in lessons learned and already turned into Europe’s GDPR regulation, and listening to the call to action expressed by the public opinion in relation to the Cambridge Analytica case.”

Two intensive days of exchanges on the building blocks of the new digital identities to be issued in France followed, with the active participation of the highly qualified audience.

As government representatives gathered in Paris to discuss the framework for France’s new citizen ID program, Wise Media hosted an additional meeting on the digital transformation of our society, to debate emerging threats in the areas of cyber-crime and cyberwarfare with select members of the XY Advisory Board prompted by Wise Media and Swiss data intelligence specialist, XY. The meeting was organized in particular to welcome the contribution of a new Board member, Major General Gert-Johannes Hagemann, Deputy Commander of NATO’s HQ Rapid Reaction Corps based at the Citadelle in Lille (France).

“Domestic security agencies and international defense organizations established to uphold the safety and security of the world’s population have ramped up new strategies to increase the resilience of critical infrastructures, as they must withstand new threats from outside and inside the nations’ territories, in the real and digital dimensions,” said Major General Hagemann. “They will also consequently turn to the latest data technologies in an effort to modernize the way safety and security can be ensured in the digital era.

“With artificial intelligence coming of age, it is possible to redefine our approach in a holistic way. The task for decision makers and technology experts is to develop adequate strategies, capabilities and even algorithms which allow us to transition from a traditional defensive ‘rapid response’ type approach to a proactive one. Gearing up data technologies and leaning on artificial intelligence may indeed offer a viable new means to interpret risk scenarios as they evolve, in order to proactively identify and address emerging threats before they develop beyond the possibility of planning effective countermeasures. By offering powerful capabilities to support modeling, simulation and in-depth analysis to interpret facts within complex and dynamic scenarios, data technologies will play a key role wherever it is necessary to make risk factors and anomalous events immediately visible and understood. Artificial intelligence may well become a critical concurring factor in the individual and collaborative efforts undertaken by nations worldwide to ensure that the economic, financial and cultural dimensions of our societies are well preserved and protected.”

“Data technologies provide powerful instruments for analyzing risk factors and interpreting data early on, exposing patterns we can recognize in our effort to predict risk scenarios,” said Sophie Boyer de la Giroday, President of Wise Media and Partner at XY. “They furthermore support decision makers by providing new tools to assist them in the complex task of adapting intervention strategies and cutting responsetimes, as predictive scenarios reveal potentially harmful and even catastrophic events forming beyond the horizon.”

About eIDAS

The European regulation about electronic identities and trust Services for electronic transactions for the internal market (eIDAS) is aimed at creating a framework for cross-border electronic identification and transactions across EU member countries. www.ec.europa.eu

Download full Press Release here

Wise Media President, Sophie B. de la Giroday with Thierry Delville, Ministerial Delegate for the Security Industry and the Fight against Cybermenaces at the French Ministry of Interior

Minister Jacqueline Gourault, French Ministry of Interior, with Valerie Peneau (left), director of the Interministerial program also involving the Ministry of Justice and the Secretary of State for the Digital Agenda

General Marc Watin-Augouard, President ot CECIF, former Inspecteur général des armées-gendarmerie

Major General-Johannes Hagemann, Deputy Commander of NATO’s HQ Rapid Reaction Corps