France moves to boost cyber warfare skills among officer corps

As part of an effort to strengthen cyber defense and cyber warfare skills among young army officers graduating from France's Saint-Cyr Coëtquida, the institution's new chairmen of cyberdefense has identified three key objectives and four teaching themes to catapult skills beyond their present level, reports Aviation Week's Ares blog.

Daniel Ventre, who began working in his new position on July 2, has established these three objectives:

• Introduce students to the subject and provide on-the-job instruction to higher ranking officers throughout the French armed forces.
• Establish a high-ranking research program with public and private partners, both military and civilian, French and foreign and with other international research centers.
• Set up a center of cyberdefense expertise at the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan schools.

The first four teaching themes, which are subject to change, focus on territory (where do cyberattacks come from and where are they aimed and why), human factor (who are cyberwarriors?), national strategies, and threat measurement from both quantitative and qualitative standpoints, the story said.