Cyber Protector is a practical hands-on program for practicing cyber defense techniques on the Internet, based on real-time attack among participants and the creation of security scenarios. Cyber Protector 2014 lasted 2 days, starting on March 18, 2014 with the participation of, among others, the General Staff of the National Defense of Greece – General Staff of the National Defense of Greece – and six additional Cyber Incident Response Teams (CERT Teams).
It is worth noting the active participation of the University of Piraeus, University of Patras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Democritus University of Thrace, the Foundation for Technology and Research and the Technical Institute of Thessaly (Larissa).
The Cyber Protector 2014 service consists of a set of real-time exercises (Blue/Red Team Cyber Defence Exercise (CDX), where participants must “defend” pre-installed networks consisting of a number of virtual machines from attacks launched by the “Red Team”. The attacks are carried out with many different sophisticated techniques similar to those used today by hackers-cyberspies. These include targeted attacks, social engineering, insider threats, denial of service attacks, zero-day exploits and the creation of custom malware undetectable by common antiviruses.
The aim of the exercise was to provide new and unique opportunities for cyber security teams to “train to fight” and become familiar with the latest cyber attacks and best defense practices, techniques and tactics. This allows security teams from Ministries and government agencies to develop procedures and a dynamic strategy for defending their infrastructure against “real” cyber attacks. It also allows them, through the “attack results”, to increase their security and implement better techniques in their operational environment, based on the now proven breach methods selected during the exercise.
The results of this truly unique experience for the players were, by common admission, excellent. It highlighted the need for additional technical implementation and additional exercises with practical seminars (hands-on), such as Cyber Protector 2014, so that participants can increase their ability to respond to cyberattacks and their technical skills. Finally, as they stated, it gave participants the opportunity to evaluate the current security measures they use in their infrastructures.
As Assistant Professor Mr. Christos. Xenakis told us, according to the scenario of the exercise, the training teams had the opportunity to be exposed to sophisticated cyber attacks in real time. It was a unique opportunity to test our capabilities and skills, but also to train ourselves for cyber defense with the best techniques. Cyber Protector 2014 was a huge success for all participants, as well as a substantial result of the real cooperation between theprivate, academic world and the public sector which is a success of utmost importance for an applied framework of Cyber Defense.
For more information, please visit: https://cyberprotector2014.com
It is worth highlighting the particular interest we have recently observed in higher education institutions regarding IT security issues. A few years ago, the topic of cyber security did not even exist as a theoretical point of reference in Greek universities. Now, distinguished scientists, with rich research work, have placed security as one of the most important fields of their research interest, while simultaneously establishing synergies with both the public and private sectors.
As SecNews, we welcome with particular interest (but also with a critical attitude) such efforts that aim, through collectivity and synergies, to confront the ever-increasing asymmetric cyber threats or cyberterrorism against critical infrastructures and beyond! It is enough that such groups and their work are supported by their political superiors and most importantly: that any results of the exercises do not simply remain in the office of some “omniscient political leader” (as is usually the case with issues they do not understand) but proceed with immediate implementation with the aim of establishing a sound cyber defense policy, similar to that of the most developed countries.
