APCERT Cyber Drill 2020 "Banker Doubles Down on Miner"

The Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) recently (11 March 2020) successfully completed its annual drill to test the response capability of leading Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs/CERTs) within the Asia Pacific economies.

The theme of this year’s APCERT Drill is “Banker doubles down on Miner”. This exercise reflects real incidents and issues that exist on the Internet. The participants handled a case of a local business affected by malware infection which is triggered by data breach.

This drill included the need for the teams to interact locally and internationally, with CSIRTs/CERTs and targeted organisations, for coordinated suspension of malicious infrastructure, analysis of malicious code, as well as notification and assistance to affected entities. This incident response exercise, which was coordinated across many economies, reflects the collaboration amongst the economies in mitigating cyber threats and validates the enhanced communication protocols, technical capabilities and quality of incident responses that APCERT fosters in assuring Internet security and safety.

Throughout the exercise, the participating teams activated and tested their incident handling arrangements.  This drill included the need for the teams to interact locally and internationally, with CSIRTs/CERTs and targeted organisations, for coordinated suspension of malicious infrastructure, analysis of malicious code, as well as notification and assistance to affected entities. This incident response exercise, which was coordinated across many economies, reflects the collaboration amongst the economies in mitigating cyber threats and validates the enhanced communication protocols, technical capabilities and quality of incident responses that APCERT fosters in assuring Internet security and safety.

25 CSIRTs from 19 economies of APCERT (Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam) participated in the drill. From the external parties, CSIRTs from 7 economies (Benin, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia) of OIC-CERT and AfricaCERT participated.

The Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, as part of APCERT, actively participated in the annual drill exercise which served to reinforce its partnership with other CISRTs/CERTs in safeguarding regional cyber security and combating emerging threats in the region. Locally, HKCERT has dedicated itself to raising cyber security awareness of Hong Kong, offering timely warning and preventive advice on new technologies-related cyber threats and incident response, and organising security training for local enterprises and Internet users alike. Such efforts aim to help build Hong Kong into one of the most cyber secure cities in the world.

About APCERT

APCERT was established by leading and national Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) from the economies of the Asia Pacific region to improve cooperation, response and information sharing among CSIRTs in the region. APCERT Operational Members consist of 30 CSIRTs from 21 economies. Further information about APCERT can be found at: www.apcert.org/.