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‘2011 ITU-IMPACT ALERT’
Ground-breaking cyber drill takes place in South
East Asia
Geneva, 2 December 2011 – United Nations’ specialized agency
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International
Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) yesterday held the
world’s first cross border drill exercise by an international organization and a
United Nations agency.
The inaugural cyber-drill was launched by ITU-IMPACT ALERT (Applied Learning
for Emergency Response Team), and comprised a simulated cyber attack response
linking the Computer Emergency Response Team/Computer Incident Response Teams
(CERT/CIRT) of Cambodia, Lao P.D.R., Myanmar and Viet Nam (the CLMV countries)
with executing experts from ITU-IMPACT. The one-day drill was held in
conjunction with the ITU-ASEAN Sub-regional CSIRT/CIRT/CERT Workshop for CLMV
countries in Yangon, Myanmar.
IMPACT, the cybersecurity executing arm of ITU, is the largest cybersecurity
alliance of its kind in the world, with 137 partner countries now formally part
of the ITU-IMPACT coalition, and with strong support from global industry
giants, partners from academia and international organizations.
The cyber drill was a simulated and coordinated exercise to assess the
cybersecurity emergency readiness of CLMV countries and their incident response
capabilities in mitigating and countering cyberattacks. The exercise helped
build greater international cooperation between participating countries, and
improved their communication and mitigation processes. It was also unique in
that it was deliberately designed to involve countries with differing developing
status – one rapidly growing developing country (Viet Nam) and three
UN-designated Least Developed Countries – Cambodia, Lao P.D.R and Myanmar. That
meant that the exercise was able to take into account the real-life constraints
faced by many economies in the developing world.
An important aspect of the drill was the involvement of countries at the
regional level. “Cyberattacks are borderless, so it is vital for every CERT/CIRT
to share information and experience on cross-border incident handling, in order
to refine and test points of contact and procedures, to enhance the
effectiveness of their response to active cyberthreats”, said ITU
Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré.
The drill involved a team from each of the four CLMV countries. Drill
scenarios involved three cybersecurity emergency incidents: mass web
defacement, spam and malware infection. Teams were
required to identify the origin of the attacks, identify possible solutions and
mitigation steps, and rectify the defacement and/or outbreak. All events and
incidents were simulated – no live systems were attacked.
Each participating country team was divided into two roles, representing
‘player’ and ‘observer’. The player executed the incident handling process,
analyzed the threats and mitigated the simulated attacks, while the observer
executed the communication roles and assisted the player to mitigate the
simulated attacks.
The drill scenarios were created by experts from ITU-IMPACT, F-Secure and
Trend Micro. Though competitors in the outside world, ITU’s long-standing
tradition of public-private partnership provided a unique platform for these
partners to come together for the good of the global community to enhance
readiness to combat cyberthreats.
The drill was conducted as a ‘no-fault’ exercise. The aim was not to
criticize capabilities or a particular network, system or infrastructure, but
rather to emphasize the need for continuous communication channels between
neighbouring countries, as well as enhancing each country’s incident response
capabilities.
“The ITU-IMPACT ALERT achieved several positive outcomes including
identification of readiness of each country’s CERTs/CIRTs Team, establishing the
need for proper contingency plans, improving the familiarity with tools and
other related software and communicating the importance of maintaining logs and
having adequately trained personnel in place to handle cyberthreats,” said Datuk
Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of IMPACT. “This was a great opportunity for countries
to put their contingency strategies to the test. This cyber drill serves as the
prototype for upcoming larger global exercises being designed for 2012,” he
added.
The 2011 ‘ITU-IMPACT ALERT’ was sponsored by ABI research, with technical
assistance provided by Trend Micro and F-Secure.
For more information, please contact:
At ITU
Marco Obiso,
ITU Cybersecurity Coordinator, ITU
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Sarah Parkes
Chief, Media Relations & Public Information, ITU
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At IMPACT
Kala Pakiri,
Manager, Corporate Communications
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About IMPACT
The International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) is
the cybersecurity executing arm of the United Nations' specialized agency for
ICTs, the International Telecommunication Union . As the world’s first
comprehensive alliance against cyber threats, IMPACT brings together
governments, academia and industry experts to enhance the global community’s
capabilities in dealing with cyber threats. Based in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, IMPACT
is the operational home of ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA). IMPACT
offers ITU’s Member States with access to expertise, facilities and resources to
effectively address cyber threats, as well as assisting United Nations agencies
in protecting their ICT infrastructures.
www.impact-alliance.org
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