Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
The Friendly Hackers team from Thales, a world leader in data protection and cybersecurity, has won the CAID[1] challenge organised by the French Ministry of Defence2 during the fifth edition of European Cyber Week in France (November 21 - 23, 2023).
The challenge, the first of its kind to be organised by the French Ministry of Defence, was designed to evaluate the extent to which teams of hackers could exploit certain intrinsic vulnerabilities of AI models.
Thaless work on AI security and trust is aligned with the requirements of both the defence community and civilian organisations such as critical infrastructure providers, which all face the same challenges of protecting their training datasets and intellectual property, and guaranteeing that AI-generated results can be trusted for critical decision-making.
Rodolphe LAMPE, Senior Data Scientist in the Thales team, with Alice H liou, Vincent Thouvenot, Cong-Bang Huynh and Baptiste MorisseThe French Ministry of Defences AI security challenge
Participants in the CAID challenge had to perform two tasks:
In a given set of images, determine which images were used to train the AI algorithm and which were used for the test.
An AI-based image recognition application learns from large numbers of training images. By studying the inner workings of the AI model, Thaless Friendly Hackers team successfully determined some of the images that had been used to create the application, gaining valuable information about the training methods used and the quality of the model.
2. Find the images of aircrafts used by a AI algorithm that had been protected using unlearning techniques.
An unlearning technique consists of deleting the data used to train a model, such as images, in order to preserve their confidentiality. This technique can be used, for example, to protect the sovereignty of an algorithm in the event of its export, theft or loss. For example, a drone equipped with AI must be able to recognise any enemy aircraft as a potential threat. On the other hand, models of aircraft from its own army would have to be learned to be identified as friendly, then erased by a technique known as unlearning. In this way, even if the drone was stolen or lost, the sensitive aircraft data contained in the AI model could not be extracted for malicious purposes. However, the Friendly Hackers team from Thales managed to re-identify the data that was supposed to have been erased from the model, thereby overriding the unlearning process.
Exercises like this help to assess the vulnerability of training data and trained models, which are valuable tools and can deliver outstanding performance but also represent new attack vectors for the armed forces. An attack on training data or trained models could have significant consequences in a military context, where this type of information could give an adversary the upper hand. Risks include model theft, theft of the data used to recognise military hardware or other features in a theatre of operations, and backdoors to impair the operation of the system using the AI. While AI in general, and generative AI in particular, offers significant operational benefits and provides military personnel with intensively trained decision support tools to reduce their cognitive burden, the national defence community needs to address new threats to this technology as a matter of priority.
The Thales BattleBox approach to tackle AI vulnerabilities
The protection of training data and trained models is critical in the defence sector. AI cybersecurity is becoming more and more crucial, and needs to be autonomous to thwart the many new opportunities that the world of AI is opening up to malicious actors. Responding to the risks and threats involved in the use of artificial intelligence, Thales has developed a set of countermeasures called the BattleBox to provide enhanced protection against potential breaches.
BattleBox Training provides protection from training-data poisoning, preventing hackers from introducing a backdoor.
BattleBox IP digitally watermarks the AI model to guarantee authenticity and reliability.
BattleBox Evade aims to protect models from prompt injection attacks, which can manipulate prompts to bypass the safety measures of chatbots using Large Language Models (LLMs), and to counter adversarial attacks on images, such as adding a patch to deceive the detection process in a classification model.
BattleBox Privacy provides a framework for training machine learning algorithms, using advanced cryptography and secure secret-sharing protocols to guarantee high levels of confidentiality.
To prevent AI hacking in the case of CAID challenge tasks, countermeasures such as encryption of the AI model could be one of the solutions to be implemented.
AI provides considerable operational benefits, but it requires high levels of security and cybersecurity protection to prevent data breaches and misuse. Thales implements a large range of AI-based solutions for all types of civil and military use cases. Intended to be explainable, embeddable and integrated within robust critical systems, they are also designed to be sovereign, frugal and reliable thanks to advanced methods and tools used for qualification and validation. Thales has the dual AI and line-of-business expertise needed to incorporate these solutions into its systems to significantly improve their operational capabilities, said David Sadek, Thales VP Research, Technology & Innovation in charge of Artificial Intelligence.
Thales and AI
As the Groups defence and security businesses address critical requirements, often with safety-of-life implications, Thales has developed an ethical and scientific framework for the development of trusted AI based on the four strategic pillars of validity, security, explainability and resp
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Thursday 7 May 2026
Sky continues Sphere Abacus partnership with The Death of S...
07/05/2026
Thursday 7 May 2026
Sky Confirms Saturday Night Live UK will return this September for Series Two
Saturday Night Live UK will return for a second series, as S...
07/05/2026
Save 20% on the Sky Glass Gen 2 and Sky Glass Air TVsThursday 7 May 2026
How to watch the World Cup on Sky Glass
Tune into the World Cup on the BBC and ITV vi...
07/05/2026
Production sound mixer Dirk Sciarrotta has mixed Family Feud for 28 seasons. Thats up to 200 syndicated episodes per year, plus primetime celebrity specials - a...
07/05/2026
As audience expectations have evolved, Owen has stopped trying to hide microphones or excuse amplification. Instead, he treats sound as a fully immersive part o...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
06 May 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & ...
06/05/2026
UKTV has secured the exclusive rights to the early back catalogue of iconic Australian drama series Neighbours, following a landmark content deal with Fremantle...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversa...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy
Sky in the UK & Ireland to remain the home of Formula 1 until ...
06/05/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign launches nationwide, supported by new...
06/05/2026
Wuppertal May 6, 2026
Riedel Expands Leadership Structure, Appoints Marc Engro...
06/05/2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 6, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its latest broadband innovations for ANGA COM 2026, highlighting its vision for a new e...
06/05/2026
Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus, Fox Corporation on Ted Turner&...
06/05/2026
Friday 8 May on RT One and RT Player
Meet the NSPCA team caring for and protecting animals in need in this six-part series
Fly on the wall, six-part series...
Facebook 
