[Video] A look back at the first IP Paris Cybersecurity and Defense Conference

Two hundred people attended the IP Paris Cybersecurity and Defense Conference on Wednesday, October 21, 2025, in the main hall of the École Polytechnique. Two hundred people came to attend conferences and round tables led by specialists in the field. “The aim was to bring together scientists and representatives from institutions and companies to discuss current cybersecurity and defense issues,” said Talel Abdessalem, director of the Télécom Paris Communication and Information Processing Laboratory (LTCI*).

Sovereignty, interdisciplinarity, innovation

Among them, Bart Prenneel, cryptologist and professor at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven (Belgium), called on the cybersecurity community to take an interest in European projects facilitating legal access to encrypted data in digital tools. “Cybersecurity is one of the keys to Europe's sovereignty and the defense of its values, particularly in an increasingly difficult global geopolitical climate,” the researcher emphasized. 

Valérie Viet Triem Tong, professor at CentraleSupelec and head of the PIRAT research team (CentraleSupelec/CNRS/INRIA/ Univ. Rennes IRISA Lab) welcomed the topics discussed, in particular “the quality of the data used by AI and cybersecurity stakeholders, and the demystification of what AI brings today and what it will bring tomorrow.”

During a round table discussion on cybersecurity issues related to AI, Thomas Le Goff, senior lecturer at the I3** laboratory at Télécom Paris, Sonia Vanier, professor at the École Polytechnique Computer Science Laboratory (LIX***), and Gregory Blanc, senior lecturer at the SAMOVAR**** laboratory at Télécom SudParis, contributed to the discussions alongside representatives from the CNIL, ANSSI, and Thalès. “Such meetings are essential given the current deployment of AI technologies and tools. This raises new issues that we address in our work and encourages us to set up interdisciplinary teams,” said Sonia Vanier. Gregory Blanc added that these discussions “are beneficial for technology transfer and sovereign innovation.”

Make way for students

Finally, five researchers from the Institut Polytechnique de Paris specializing in cybersecurity presented their work: Anamaria Costache (visiting professor at LIX), Pascal Cotret (senior lecturer at the ENSTA's Laboratory of Information, Communication and Knowledge Sciences and Techniques - Lab-STICC), Stefano Zacchiroli (professor at LTCI), Olivier Levillain (senior lecturer at the SAMOVAR laboratory) and Olivier Rioul (professor at LTCI). This was an opportunity for the latter to reiterate the importance of opening the event to students. "They had a rightful place at this event, where they were able to understand the issues at stake. Perhaps some of them will choose to specialize in this area for their thesis," said Olivier Rioul. One-third of the participants in the day's events were students from IP Paris. Some of them also presented their work in a poster session.