EU-DIGEST: Europe Ramps Up Cyber Attack Testing With Second Simulated Pan-Europe DDoS

10/10/12

Europe Ramps Up Cyber Attack Testing With Second Simulated Pan-Europe DDoS

Three hundred IT security professionals from across Europe are locking horns in a simulated cyber war exercise taking place today which — if it were a real attack — would be capable of disrupting services for millions of Europeans. The exercise, known as Cyber Europe 2012, is being run by ENISA: the European Network and Information Security Agency, and is part of ongoing efforts to bolster cyber crisis cooperation, preparedness and response across Europe.

This is first Cyber Europe event to include participants from the private sector — specifically the finance sector, ISPs and eGovernment — not just the public sector.
“ENISA aims to support the cyber crisis community in improving the resilience of critical information infrastructures,” notes Prof. Udo Helmbrecht, Executive Director of ENISA, in a statement.
The exercise has three main aims:

Test effectiveness and scalability of existing mechanisms, procedures and information flow for public authorities’ cooperation in Europe;
Explore the cooperation between public and private stakeholders in Europe;
Identify gaps and challenges on how large scale cyber incidents could be handled more effectively in Europe.