Fostering international cooperation in Asia Pacific’s cybersecurity

ITU-IMPACT’s technical drill highlights critical information exchange

Vientiane, 11 December 2013 - The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) together with its cybersecurity executing arm, the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) had conducted the second cyber drill for the Asia Pacific region in Vientiane, Lao, from 9-11 December 2013. National Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRT) from four countries- Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, and Vietnam participated in the drill.

 “The cyber drill and workshops are useful and helpful for all participants, especially for the newly established LaoCERT and National CIRTs of CLMV countries, in order to enhance and improve on coordination and cooperation on the incident response framework,” commented Khamla Sounnalat, Acting Head of LaoCERT.

“Up-to-date knowledge and skill is really important for cybersecurity Professionals as threats have increased exponentially and it is very difficult to find their origin,” said Phanarith Ou, Head of CamCERT, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Cambodia. “As the attack techniques becomes more sophisticated, CIRT professionals need to update their skills to deal with them. Additionally, by understanding the current status of attackers’ techniques, we are able to develop or review current security policies and network infrastructures in order to align with emerging threats around the globe,” he added.

Hosted by LaoCERT, the regional forum kicked-off with a series of presentations on ITU-IMPACT Case Studies, Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), Child Online Protection, and Computer Forensics. The workshops were conducted by the forum’s strategic partner, ABI Research, as well as Nuix and The Cyber Guardian as supporting partners.

Cyber threats can only be mitigated through multilateral, transnational, and multidimensional engagement. The two-day drill was organised to foster communications between national CIRTs in the region and make use of expertise from ITU-IMPACT and among its partners to enhance the CIRTs’ capabilities in incidents handling.

Called ALERT (Applied Learning for Emergency Response Teams), the drill focused on Incident Handling and Response, Malware Analysis, Vulnerability Assessment, Penetration Testing, Mining Data, Visualization, Forensics Investigation, and Mobile Malware.

ITU-IMPACT brings together governments, academia, and industry experts to enhance the global community’s capabilities to deal with cyber threats. Together with 147 partner countries and 38 partners from the industry, academia, and international organizations, ITU-IMPACT forms the world’s largest cybersecurity coalition. It seeks to strengthen global cybersecurity measures and helps nations develop worldwide strategies against cyber threats.