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AnonTechie writes:

Representatives of Thales, the European defense technology giant, announced last week at the Eurosatory defense exposition that the company won a contract from the French government to supply 900,000 users of an inter-ministry network with secure Internet and intranet connections, plus related IT support and cybersecurity services.

Cybersecurity is now a $670 million business for the company and while Thales may have had an inside track for the French contract, American firms are increasingly getting the cold shoulder in Europe. Defense News reports that many European firms are seeing increased business largely because of one man - Edward Snowden or, perhaps more accurately, the NSA's insistence on making sure that they had the ability to collect information on anyone using products manufactured in the US. From the article:

"I do see a move to using European firms", said a French government source, "and the losses will be huge for US firms in the future. It's a very good thing for European companies. Thank you, Snowden."

Shortly after the National Security Agency whistleblower revealed details of data-sharing by US firms with Washington, one analyst predicted the American cloud computing industry could lose $35 billion in contracts by 2016 as companies and governments outside the US decided their data was safer elsewhere.