Archived Newsroom • Press Release |
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ITU-IMPACT holds first ever pan-European cross-border cybersecurity drill
19 nations participate in regionwide test of cybersecurity capabilities
Sofia, Bulgaria, 26 October 2012 – ITU and its cybersecurity
executing arm, the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats
(IMPACT), has organized the first UN-backed cross border cyber drill for Europe
and CIS countries designed to test national cyber response capabilities and
improve readiness and reaction in the event of a theoretical cyber attack.
Over 90 experts from 19 European and CIS countries were involved in the
virtually simulated attack coordinated by ITU and IMPACT in collaboration with
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communication. The
simulation, which was sponsored by ABI Research, took place during the
ITU Regional
Forum on Cybersecurity for Europe and CIS from 23-25 October 2012 in Sofia,
Bulgaria.
The Applied Learning for Emergency Response Team (ALERT) cyber drill featured
a total of eight actively participating countries: Armenia, Bulgaria, Moldova,
Montenegro, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Turkey and Ukraine, with 11 other
European nations taking part as official observers: Albania, Austria,
Azerbaijan, Croatia, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal and
Tajikistan.
A series of scenarios totalling 250 minutes were triggered during the
exercise to put participants to the test and observe their responses. These
scenarios included phishing, web defacement and wireless security breach.
The event also benefited from the participation of ITU-IMPACT's key industry
partners including Codenomicon, Internet Society Bulgaria, Kaspersky Lab,
Lirex.com, Microsoft, Symantec and The Cyber Guardian.
It is the third in ITU-IMPACT’s series of ALERT cyber drills, with previous
exercises taking place in the
South
East Asia region and the
Arab
region.
“This regional forum and associated cyber drill are concrete examples of the
highly effective regional cooperation that is needed to combat the global
scourge of cyber criminality,” said ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré.
“Through our partnership with IMPACT, ITU is putting state-of-the-art
cybersecurity tools and expertise within reach of all 193 ITU Member States, and
in particular our developing country members who might struggle to establish
their own advanced national cybersecurity programme and infrastructure.”
“Because cybersecurity issues can become a national security threat, it is
essential that CERTs/CIRTs (community emergency response teams/critical incident
response teams) share information and experience on cross-border incident
handling and collaborate and coordinate with government and industry players to
address and mitigate these challenges and secure critical infrastructure,” said
Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of IMPACT.
With 144 countries now part of the ITU-IMPACT coalition, IMPACT is entrusted
with the task of providing cybersecurity support and services to ITU’s Member
States and other organizations within the UN system.
ITU-IMPACT’s global partnership now embraces over 200 industry, academia and
international organizations.
For more information, please contact:
At ITU:
Marco Obiso
ITU Cybersecurity Coordinator
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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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Philip Victor
Director of Policy and International Cooperation
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About ITU...
About IMPACT
The International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) is
the cybersecurity executing arm of the United Nations' specialised agency - the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU). As the world’s first
UN-backed 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
provides ITU’s 193 Member States access to expertise, facilities and resources
to effectively address cyber threats, as well as assisting United Nations
agencies in protecting their ICT infrastructures. For more information, please
visit impact-alliance.org