New proposals in the French Parliament will mandate tech companies to give decrypted messages, email. If businesses don’t comply, heavy fines will be imposed.
France has proposed a law requiring end-to-end encryption messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, and encrypted email services like Proton Mail to give law enforcement agencies access to decrypted data on demand.
The move comes after France’s proposed “Narcotraffic” bill, asking tech companies to hand over encrypted chats of suspected criminals within 72 hours.
The law has stirred debates in the tech community and civil society groups because it may lead to building of “backdoors” in encrypted devices that can be abused by threat actors and state-sponsored criminals.
Individuals failing to comply will face fines of €1.5m and companies may lose up to 2% of their annual world turnover in case they are not able to hand over encrypted communications to the government.
Few experts believe it is not possible to bring backdoors into encrypted communications without weakening their security.
According to Computer Weekly’s report, Matthias Pfau, CEO of Tuta Mail, a German encrypted mail provider, said, “A backdoor for the good guys only is a dangerous illusion. Weakening encryption for law enforcement inevitably creates vulnerabilities that can – and will – be exploited by cyber criminals and hostile foreign actors. This law would not just target criminals, it would destroy security for everyone.”
Researchers stress that the French proposals aren’t technically sound without “fundamentally weakening the security of messaging and email services.” Similar to the “Online Safety Act” in the UK, the proposed French law exposes a serious misunderstanding of the practical achievements with end-to-end encrypted systems. Experts believe “there are no safe backdoors into encrypted services.”
The law will allow using infamous spywares such as NSO Group’s Pegasus or Pragon that will enable officials to remotely surveil devices. “Tuta Mail has warned that if the proposals are passed, it would put France in conflict with European Union laws, and German IT security laws, including the IT Security Act and Germany’s Telecommunications Act (TKG) which require companies to secure their customer’s data,” reports Computer Weekly.
Online attacks are a common thing in 2025. The rising AI use has contributed to cyberattacks with faster speed and advanced features, the change is unlikely to slow down. To help readers, this blog outlines the basics of digital safety.
A good antivirus in your system helps you from malware, ransomware, phishing sites, and other major threats.
For starters, having Microsoft’s built-in Windows Security antivirus is a must (it is usually active in the default settings, unless you have changed it). Microsoft antivirus is reliable and runs without being nosy in the background.
You can also purchase paid antivirus software, which provides an extra security and additional features, in an all-in-one single interface.
A password manager is the spine of login security, whether an independent service, or a part of antivirus software, to protect login credentials across the web. In addition they also lower the chances of your data getting saved on the web.
A simple example: to maintain privacy, keep all the credit card info in your password manager, instead of allowing shopping websites to store sensitive details.
You'll be comparatively safer in case a threat actor gets unauthorized access to your account and tries to scam you.
In today's digital world, just a standalone password isn't a safe bet to protect you from attackers. Two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication provides an extra security layer before users can access their account. For instance, if a hacker has your login credentials, trying to access your account, they won't have all the details for signing in.
A safer option for users (if possible) is to use 2FA via app-generated one-time codes; these are safer than codes sent through SMS, which can be intercepted.
If passwords and 2FA feel like a headache, you can use your phone or PC as a security option, through a passkey.
Passkeys are easy, fast, and simple; you don't have to remember them; you just store them on your device. Unlike passwords, passkeys are linked to the device you've saved them on, this prevents them from getting stolen or misused by hackers. You're done by just using PIN or biometric authentication to allow a passkey use.
Earlier, it was easier to spot irregularities in an e-mail, all it took was one glance. As Gen AI models use flawless grammar, it is almost impossible to find errors in your mail copy,
In the past, one quick skim was enough to recognize something is off with an email, typically the incorrect grammar and laughable typos being the giveaways. Since scammers now use generative AI language models, most phishing messages have flawless grammar.
But there is hope. It is easier to identify Gen AI text, and keep an eye out for an unnatural flow of sentences, if everything seems to be too perfect, chances are it’s AI.
Though AI has made it difficult for users to find phishing scams, they show some classic behavior. The same tips apply to detect phishing emails.
In most cases, scammers mimic businesses and wish you won’t notice. For instance, instead of an official “info@members.hotstar.com” email ID, you may notice something like “info@members.hotstar-support.com.” You may also get unrequested links or attachments, which are a huge tell. URLs (mismatched) having subtle typos or extra words/letters are comparatively difficult to notice but a huge ti-off that you are on a malicious website or interacting with a fake business.
The biggest issue these days is combating deepfakes, which are also difficult to spot.
The attacker makes realistic video clips using photo and video prompts and uses video calling like Zoom or FaceTime to trap potential victims (especially elders and senior citizens) to give away sensitive data.
One may think that only old people may fall for deepfakes, but due to their sophistication, even experts fall prey to them. One famous incident happened in Hong Kong, where scammers deepfake a company CFO and looted HK$200 million (roughly $25 million).
AI is advancing, and becoming stronger every day. It is a double-edged sword, both a blessing and a curse. One should tread the ethical lines carefully and hope they don’t fall to the dark side of AI.
One infamous example is the “tech support scam,” where a fake warning tells the user their device is infected with malware and they need to reach out to contact support number (fake) or install fake anti-malware software to restore the system and clean up things. Over the years, users have noticed a few Microsoft IT support fraud pop-ups.
Realizing the threat, Microsoft is combating the issue with its new Scareware Blockers feature in Edge, which was first rolled out in November last year at the Ignite conference.
Defender SmartScreen, a feature that saves Edge users from scams, starts after a malicious site is caught and added to its index of abusive web pages to protect users globally.
The new AI-powered Edge scareware blocker by Microsoft “offers extra protection by detecting signs of scareware scams in real-time using a local machine learning model,” says Bleeping Computer.
Talking about Scareware, Microsoft says, “The blocker adds a new, first line of defense to help protect the users exposed to a new scam if it attempts to open a full-screen page.” “Scareware blocker uses a machine learning model that runs on the local computer,” it further adds.
Once the blocker catches a scam page, it informs users and allows them to continue using the webpage if they trust the website.
Before activating the blocker, the user needs to install the Microsoft Edge beta version. The version installs along with the main release variant of Edge, easing the user’s headache of co-mingling the versions. If the user is on a managed system, they should make sure previews are enabled admin.
"After making sure you have the latest updates, you should see the scareware blocker preview listed under "Privacy Search and Services,'" Microsoft says. Talking about reporting the scam site from users’ end for the blocker to work, Microsoft says it helps them “make the feature more reliable to catch the real scams.
Beyond just blocking individual scam outbreaks” their Digital Crimes Unit “goes even further to target the cybercrime supply chain directly.”