Cybersecurity defences put to the test

EU and US cybersecurity experts have stress-tested their response to an online attack.

Following a global rise in cybercrime and hacking attacks, Brussels played host to the European and US online security exercise this week. The event was the first time both had come together to role-play an emergency scenario. A similar scenario had been played out last year by the just the European nations. Organisers confirmed the findings were worrying, stating the nations "must increase their efforts".

This week also saw the London Conference on Cyberspace, at which the EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said "Recent high profile cyber attacks show that global threats need global action,". In addition to this, the UK intelligence agency, GCHQ, recently warned of a "disturbing" number of cyber attacks against Britain. Britian isn’t alone though, other countries have also seen an increase in the amount of attacks.

Professor Udo Helmbrecht from the EU's security adviser Enisa explains that as "The internet is an important backbone of our society - we use it for business and in our private lives. The more we depend on it, the more we need to share information to protect the infrastructure." This dependancy on the internet means we need to prepare for attacks on it. "We have an increase in cyberthreats and incidents so we need co-operation," he went on. "Today's exercise provides valuable lessons for specialists on both sides of the Atlantic."

Industry expert and cybercrime specialist Tero Pollanen "It’s great to see Europe and the US working together on this. Cybercrime is an ever increasing issue, and is costing businesses billions. Unlike ‘traditional’ crimes, cybercrime is not localised, it is an international problem that can be carried out from almost anywhere. As the risks and threats are global, we should all be working together to contribute to finding solutions".

Recent online attacks include a Trojan, where information from chemical and defence firms was at risk, and also Duqu malware attacks against large organisations around the world.

In this weeks test, two scenarios were played out: one attempting to steal and publish information from the EU’s security agencies, and secondly to disrupt energy industry control systems. In doing so, the idea was for everyone to know who could offer what support on the other side of the Atlantic. In an interview with the BBC, Prof Helmbrecht said " We have to detect the incident and where it comes from… "Then we have the computer emergency response teams in the various countries which have to exchange information and decide what can be done - this will depend in part on legal requirements."

Proving a success this year, Enisa said it hoped to further its reach to even more countries in further testing next year.