APCERT embarks on global coordination to mitigate Large Scale Denial of Service Attack

The Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) today has successfully completed its annual drill to test the response capability of leading Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT) from the Asia Pacific economies. For the second time, APCERT involved the participation of members from the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation – Computer Emergency Response Team (OIC-CERT) in this annual drill, following a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration signed in September, 2011.

The theme of the APCERT Drill 2013 was “Countering Large Scale Denial of Service Attack”.  The exercise reflects real incidents and problems that exist on the Internet.  The teams were tested not only to go beyond identifying a large Denial of Service attack on various companies and governments as a symptom of the problem, but also to analyze the root causes and remove malicious elements from the Internet, in the minimum amount of time.

During the exercise, the participating teams activated and tested their incident response handling arrangements, locally and internationally, in order to mitigate the impact of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that involved large scale propagation of malicious software acting to impair critical infrastructure and economic activities.  This incident response exercise, which was coordinated across many economies, reflects the strong 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.

22 CSIRT teams from 18 economies (Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam) of the APCERT and 4 CSIRT teams from 4 economies (Egypt, Pakistan, Oman and Tunisia ) of the OIC-CERT participated in the drill.

This year, the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) took the lead in organizing the APCERT drill and served as an exercise controller during the drill.  An active participant of the APCERT drill over the years, HKCERT has been organizing the local drills in Hong Kong since 2009.

Mr. SC Leung, senior consultant of HKCERT said, “Through this regional drill, we have demonstrated our technical competence, and the capabilities in leading and organizing regional events that involve multiple economies,“

“The drill scenario of large scale attack is especially relevant to Hong Kong which has a highly connected business community. With the increasing number of cyber attacks targeting local companies, the drill has enabled us to revisit our current response procedures and better prepare for tackling new attacks. The experience will help us improve the local drill design for Hong Kong later this year,” Mr. Leung continued.

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 consists of 30 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 26 CERTs, cyber security related agencies and professional from 18 economies. Further information about OIC-CERT can be found at: www.oic-cert.net.