European information security agency Enisa yesterday oversaw the largest ever region-wide cybersecurity exercise, with over 200 organizations from 29 countries taking part.
CyberEurope is a biannual affair featuring experts from national security agencies, CERTs, ministries, telcos, banks and ISPs and is designed to test their ability to cope with a large-scale cybersecurity scenario.
This year more than 400 IT security professionals dealt with over 2,000 separate security incidents including denial of service attacks, website defacements, data breaches, and attacks on critical infrastructure.
A central control center oversaw exercises managed from facilities across Europe.
The idea is to test not only individual organizations’ ability to cope in the various simulated scenarios but also EU-wide “cooperation and escalation procedures,” according to Enisa.
In this respect, one key aim was to chart the effectiveness of EU-Standard Operational Procedures (EU-SOPs) – guidelines drawn up to share operational information during major cyber-attacks.
Yesterday’s exercises were only one part – ‘operational/tactical’ – of the three-phase initiative. April saw the completion of the first ‘technical’ element, which tested incident detection, investigation, mitigation and information exchange.
In early 2015 the final, strategic, phase will apparently be carried out to examine decision-making, political impact and public affairs.
A report will be issued with findings on Thursday’s exercises shortly, Enisa said.
“The sophistication and volume of cyber-attacks are increasing every day. They cannot be countered if individual states work alone or just a handful of them act together,” said European Commission vice president, Neelie Kroes, in a statement.
“I'm pleased that EU and EFTA Member States are working with the EU institutions with Enisa bringing them together. Only this kind of common effort will help keep today’s economy and society protected.”
Raj Samani, McAfee EMEA CTO, welcomed the initiative.
“Any exercises which can help countries be better prepared in the event of a major incident has to be a good thing," he told Infosecurity.
"Simulation exercises are often enshrined in continuity planning for some time and therefore it’s good to see Enisa undertake such preventative measures.”
Enisa received a vote of confidence last year when its mandate was extended until 2020.
Part of this new agreement with the EU included an obligation to “regularly assess, in cooperation with the Member States and the European institutions, the state of network and information security in Europe.”