HKCERT Conducts Territory-wide Cyber Security Drill

With increasing targeted and financially-motivated cyber attacks, the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) of the Hong Kong Productivity Council today (31 October 2014) conducted a territory-wide security drill to enhance the readiness of local critical Internet infrastructure providers and mobile network operators against these threats.

Mr Leung Siu-Cheong, Senior Consultant of HKCERT, said, “From January to September 2014, HKCERT recorded 2,553 security incidents, up 155% from the same period last year. The majority (74%) are botnet and phishing cases, many of which related to theft of online banking data and personal identities.”

“Apart from being direct targets of cyber attacks, companies must beware that their information technology infrastructures can be used by hackers to launch attacks against others. To address these threats, they need to work with other Internet stakeholders collectively to secure their systems and be prepared to respond to such attacks,” he added.

Under the theme of “Strengthening Capability and Readiness against Cyber Attack”, the drill simulated various scenarios of cyber attacks which required coordinated action by participating organizations. They included the Hong Kong Police Force, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, Internet service providers, mobile network operators and other key players in the Internet community.

The drill successfully contained a targeted distributed reflective denial-of-service attack against a financial institution and a phishing attack targeting its clients. Through the drill, HKCERT has identified areas of improvement for follow up with the participants.
 

List of Participating Organizations

Exercise Control Team:

• Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre
• Hong Kong Police Force, HKSAR Government
• Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, HKSAR Government
• Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation

Network Providers:

• Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited
• Hutchison Global Communications Limited
• NETVIGATOR / Business NETVIGATOR
• Information Technology Service Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Domain Name Registrars:

• UDomain Web Hosting Company
• Speedy Group Corporation