The US decided to hold the largest ever simulated cyber-attack exercise, Cyber Storm II. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) kicked off its second massive cyber war on Monday in Washington; but virtually played around the world.
Players in the multimillion-dollar exercise include 9 states, 4 foreign governments, 18 federal agencies and 40 private companies that work in information technology, telecommunications, chemicals and pipe and rail transportation infrastructure.
They intended to spend a week fielding simulated "real-world" on-line attacks on the computer systems of government bodies, corporations, transportation and other key industries.
The Cyber Storm II exercise seeks to foster personal links between key officials in business and government, said Robert Jamison, an official at the DHS. He adds that these people are not always willing to share information about security issues involving the networks they run.
Facing what the security experts call "real and growing threats" to computer and telecommunications networks, players fielded some 1,800 "injections," various types of challenges, from hacker break-ins and extortion demands to DNS amplification attacks—dangerously intensified versions of denial of service attacks that seek to overwhelm and shut down networks.
The exercise involved at least one massive, coordinated cyber-attack knocking out enough computer and telecommunications networks to require an internationally coordinated response.
Officials on the US side remarked that the $6.4 million-exercise has thus far produced "success stories" in building relationships and trust among different companies and agencies, as well as the international community.
"If you haven't tested those things out ahead of time, then when you have some kind of event – when you need those relationships and communication networks in place – oftentimes they are not there," said Cheri McGuire, acting director of DHS' National Cyber Security Division.
She stated that with cyber attacks on the rise, the question is less about what to do if an attack happens and more about what to do when one occurs. McGuire said that although the exercise focuses on response; she believes that the relationships formed will also benefit prevention and preparedness efforts.
Bolstering communication is important, and cyber-security events tend to be global events. However, since the first simulated cyber-attack exercise, Cyber Storm I, was launched by the US in 2006 and cost $3 million, the US has been condemned for seeking hegemony over cyber-space. The newly-staged Cyber Storm II is considered a US effort to gear up to monopolize cyber-space.
Given the over-reliance of the US military on IT systems, there still exist striking problems – exposed in the first exercise – including information sharing and action coordination, communication, and problems using manual applications once IT systems are attacked.
In addition, the US's private sector owns more than three-quarters of the country's critical infrastructure. In effect, a large-scale, successfully coordinated cyber attack could cripple the super economy.
Considering this, the heavily-favored cyber systems in the US security sector could leave the country more vulnerable and turn out to be the lowing –hanging fruit in the face of cyber attacks.
By People's Daily Online
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