Nineteen countries have just concluded a European region-wide test of cybersecurity capabilities.

The ITU-IMPACT conducted the ALERT (Applied Learning for Emergency Response Team), a three-day cyber drill in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communication during the Regional Forum on Cybersecurity for Europe and CIS. The forum ITU-IMPACT ALERT Cyber Drill (Europe Region) was held from 23 to 25 October 2012 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The gathering was organised within the framework of the ITU-IMPACT endeavour, which aims to provide a platform for cooperation, information sharing, and discussion on cybersecurity with particular focus on CSIRT/CIRT/CERT policies, procedures, best practices, challenges and opportunities among participants from all over the Europe and CIS Region.

The Forum also contributed to ongoing global activities related to building confidence and security in the use of ICTs (WSIS Action Line C5) and is linked to the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA), and Hyderabad Action Plan Programme 2 (cybersecurity, ICT Applications and IP-based network-related issues).

CERT/CIRT practitioners, senior government officials, cybersecurity experts, related industry players and other stakeholder groups from ICT and security sectors were brought together with the end in view of strengthening the countries’ CIRTs, their cybersecurity fundamentals, and building a network of cybersecurity experts in the region.

The cyber drill was held on the last day of the workshop and can be seen as a simulation in a controlled environment, which aimed to enhance the communication and participating teams’ incident response capabilities. This simulation meant to assist partner countries to develop and implement operational procedures in response to various cyber incidents, and to identify future planning and process improvements. It involved virtual simulated attacks and tested response, readiness and reaction capabilities in the event of a theoretical cyber attack.

The drill, the first of its kind, was organized by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU and its cybersecurity executing arm, the International Multilateral Partnership against Cyber Threats, also known as IMPACT.