ITU-IMPACT TO HOLD THE FIRST UN-BACKED CROSS-BORDER CYBER DRILL AND CYBERSECURITY WORKSHOP FOR THE ARAB REGION

Cyberjaya, 29 June 2012 - The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), with the support of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT), Jordan are organising the first UN-backed cross border cyber drill designed to test the Arab region’s cyber response capabilities and improve readiness and reaction in the event of a theoretical future cyber attack. The drill forms part of an ITU-IMPACT Arab region cybersecurity workshop, to be held in Amman, Jordan from 15-17 July 2012.

The cyber drill is the second in a series of ITU-IMPACT events being held around the world to help countries strengthen their cybersecurity frameworks. The first was held in Southeast Asia region in December 2011, involving Cambodia, Lao P.D.R., Myanmar and Viet Nam.

More than ten Arab States will participate in the workshop, which will address key topics such as botnets, Child Online Protection (COP) and mobile security. The third day of the event will feature the ITU-IMPACT Applied Learning for Emergency Response Team (ALERT) cyber drill, which will see teams from six Arab countries, along with ITU-IMPACT’s cybersecurity experts, take part in a simulated and coordinated exercise to assess the cybersecurity emergency readiness of each country and their incident response capabilities in mitigating and countering cyber attacks.

“Cybersecurity has become a global priority, and no nation, no matter how technologically advanced, can isolate itself from today’s increasingly sophisticated threats,” said Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General. “With 143 countries now part of the ITU-IMPACT coalition and with strong backing from global industry giants and leading partners from academia, I am pleased to note that ITU-IMPACT is now largest cybersecurity alliance of its kind in the world. This will help us ensure all our Members, including the world’s Least Developed Countries, have affordable access to state-of-the-art cyber defence strategies.”

"With the increasing complexities of cyber attacks and the continuously evolving threat landscape, it is imperative that any endeavour towards mitigating those risks should be continuously carried out and supported. Thus, the regional workshop and the first ITU-IMPACT cyber drill for Arab Countries are both essential and timely," said Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of IMPACT.

“Noting that cybersecurity issues can become a national security threat, can pose serious security problems if not properly managed and controlled. The best approach to such management has to be global in nature as the threats concerned are borderless, common to all and have common denominators. Thus, experience and information sharing is fundamental to this approach and strategic partnerships are needed, especially in countering cyber attacks," he added.

The regional workshop is aimed to equip participants with knowledge in cyber incident response and handling, network and web security, malware analysis as well as preparation in establishing their respective national CIRTs. Participants will also be exposed to various cybersecurity scenarios based on case studies and practical work. The workshop aspires to nurture a culture of information security and assist in developing technical capabilities on CIRT operations, and improve overall cybersecurity readiness in that region.

The drill and workshop are being held in collaboration with ITU-IMPACT's key industry partners, including ABI Research, The Cyber Guardian and Kaspersky Lab, along with the support of other ITU-IMPACT partners including Trend Micro and F-Secure.

ITU-IMPACT’s global partnership now embraces over 200 industry, academia and international organisations coming together to enhance the global community’s capability and capacity to combat cyber threats. As the cybersecurity executing arm of ITU, IMPACT is entrusted with the task of providing cybersecurity support and services to ITU’s Member States and other organisations within the UN system.

Today, with 143 partner countries formally part of the coalition and with strong support from global industry giants and prestigious partners from the academia, ITU-IMPACT has become the largest cybersecurity alliance of its kind in the world.