APCERT Cyber Drill on New DDoS Threat

The Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) today (22 Mar 2017) has successfully completed its annual drill to test the response capabilities of members' Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT). For the 6th time, APCERT Drill also involved the participation of members from the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation – Computer Emergency Response Team (OIC-CERT).

The theme of the APCERT Drill 2017 was "Emergence of a New DDoS Threat", and this exercise reflects real incidents and problems that exist on the Internet. In this year's drill scenario, the participating teams were tasked to mitigate DDoS incidents triggered by a type of malware which has been widely observed in the Asia Pacific region.

Throughout the exercise, the participating teams activated and tested their incident handling arrangements. This drill included the need to interact with local and international CSIRTs/CERTs, and victim organisations, for the 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 and validates the enhanced communication protocols, technical capabilities and quality of incident responses that APCERT fosters in assuring Internet security and safety.

23 APCERT teams from 18 economies (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam) participated in the drill, and additionally with 4 CSIRTs from 4 member countries (Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Pakistan) of the OIC-CERT.

HKCERT participated in the drill and also provided part of the infrastructure for the drill. "This drill exercise demonstrated a persistent effort of the CERTs in the Asia Pacific to collaborate to assist in building a safe cyberspace," commented Mr S. C. Leung, Senior Consultant of HKCERT.

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 28 CSIRTs from 20 economies. Further information about APCERT can be found at: www.apcert.org.

About OIC-CERT

OIC-CERT was established in January 2009, to provide a platform for member countries to explore and to develop collaborative initiatives and possible partnerships in matters pertaining to cyber security that shall strengthen their self reliant in the cyberspace. OIC-CERT consists of 33 CERTs, cyber security related agencies and professional from 20 economies. Further information about OIC-CERT can be found at: www.oic-cert.org.