Encryption: essential protection that must not be weakened

As a key cybersecurity tool, encryption is at the heart of digital trust. At a time when it is regularly called into question in public debate, Numeum reaffirms the need to preserve it, and proposes three levers for combining security, strategic autonomy and freedom.

Invisible but vital technology

Every day, billions of items of data travel over digital networks: private messages, sensitive documents, medical records, industrial or financial information. Encryption is what ensures that this data remains confidential. It is based on a simple principle: only authorized persons can access information. All others, including technical intermediaries, see only unreadable content.

This is the technology that secures messaging, banking transactions, cloud services, professional exchanges and communications between critical players.

Recurrent attempts at framing

In France, encryption regularly comes up against political pressure, in the name of fighting crime or maintaining public order.

The latest example: in 2025, article 8 ter of the “Sortir la France du piège du narcotrafic” bill envisaged requiring digital operators to provide technical solutions for accessing encrypted data.

Although this measure was ultimately shelved, it caused considerable concern in technical, industrial and legal circles.

A false good idea… and a real danger

The intention may seem laudable: to give the relevant services the means to fight criminal networks. But the technical and strategic cost of such a provision is immense.

Creating a “backdoor” in an encryption protocol is tantamount to deliberately introducing a vulnerability into the system. Even if it’s supposed to be reserved for legitimate players, there’s no guarantee that it won’t one day be exploited by cybercriminals or foreign powers.

As recent history has shown, every loophole is eventually discovered and exploited.

A challenge of strategic autonomy and trust

The debate must not be confined to the opposition between “public safety” and “privacy”. It involves much broader issues:

• Strategic digital autonomy for France and Europe
• The economic resilience of our businesses
• Citizen confidence in digital services
• Protecting fundamental freedoms

Even a partial weakening of encryption would undermine our entire digital ecosystem.

Three levers for public-interest cybersecurity

At Numeum, we’re convinced that it’s possible to reconcile safety, efficiency and respect for technical fundamentals. We have three concrete proposals:

1. Strengthen the STNCJ’s resources

The Service technique national des captations judiciaires plays a key role in digital investigations. It must be given greater human and technological resources to enable it to fully carry out its missions in compliance with the law.

2. Relaunch the permanent contact group

This GCP, created in 2015, enables structured dialogue between digital operators and public authorities. It provides a trusted space for co-constructing effective solutions that respect encryption technologies.

3. Support research into compatible methods

Behavioral analysis, metadata mining, predictive analysis algorithms: it is possible to develop powerful tools without weakening encryption. But we need to make encryption a priority in cybersecurity research.

End-to-end encryption has become a proven technological standard, essential to the security of information systems, citizens and institutions. To call it into question in the name of immediate efficiency would be a long-term strategic error.

Numeum calls for a calm, lucid debate based on technical realities. Preserving encryption means preserving our strategic autonomy, our competitiveness and our freedom.

Download Numeum’s full note on encryption – July 2025