Sign in / up

back to article 3 continents, 8 countries and one cyber attack on a fake petrol company

Organisers are praising the success of a multi-nation exercise – hosted by the UK – that aimed to test response to serious cyber crime. Exercise Silver Shadow, which was run by the National Crime Agency (NCA)’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and supported by the Home Office, saw …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Organisers are praising the success of a multi-nation exercise

    and meanwhile in the real world, it still goes on.

    4 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Organisers are praising the success of a multi-nation exercise

      Yes - these exercises are always a success for two reasons:

      (1) so the "bad guys" aren't told that the defences are useless and that there is much opportunity to attack, and

      (2) the government which has poured lots and lots of money into are assured that their "investment" is paying off.

      I thought the summary from the NCA gentleman was very good - he essentially admitted that there were problems and they wanted to address them.

      But point taken - yes, in the real world crims don't read the script, so they always forget their parts.

      0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cyber Attack Thwarted

    We can also rebuff other attacks that we set the criteria of

    meanwhile, the attacks that we don't have a crib sheet for are continuing unabated

    4 0 Reply
  3. annodomini2
    Devil

    Usual?

    The lackeys and BOFH enjoy a stress test, while senior figures are wined and dined?

    Usual isn't it?

    5 0 Reply
  4. Infury8r

    Another credible option .....

    "It’s a credible scenario to imagine that hacktivist types or (slightly more of a stretch) ransomware-slinging cybercrooks might also target an oil firm."

    Or environmentalists.

    2 0 Reply
  5. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    I don't know whether the scenario has much effect on the exercise but if it does then this seems to follow a traditional military strategy planning pattern: fighting the last war or the war before that. Even a scenario modelled on Sony would have been more recent than that chosen but the current attack-de-jour seems to be DDOS.

    3 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They should have run the scenario in Die Hard 4.0

    Far more realistic....

    3 0 Reply
  7. Mark 85

    A pity that rather than playing a game, they couldn't pick a real target and go for it... say any of the ransomware types. Games are fun, but the real deal is much more satisfying and actually do some good.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Ole Juul
      Reply Icon

      real target

      Indeed, they could have spent all those resources targeting the crims. Or perhaps Pogo had it right: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

      3 0 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The best defense...

    ...is a very aggressive offense. Waiting for the crims to show when they have already hacked your system and you don't even know it, means you are hopelessly outclassed and impotent to defeat the enemy.

    2 0 Reply
  9. Phil Endecott

    > Bulgaria; Georgia; Lithuania; Moldova; Romania; Ukraine; the UK ... and the US

    What an impressive of countries.

    0 0 Reply
    1. x 7
      Reply Icon

      " Bulgaria; Georgia; Lithuania; Moldova; Romania; Ukraine"

      Yep, we may as well show them how to hack us properly.........

      0 0 Reply
  10. x 7

    "The event platform was a specialist Serco service"

    Serco? They can't even maintain the ScotRail sleeper trains to a safe standard. WTF chance have they got of knowing anything about computer hacking? A company who finds it impossible to provide hot water, working toilets, working lighting, safe brakes or round wheels on their trains

    1 0 Reply
  11. scrubber
    Facepalm

    I hear...

    ...solid encryption is quite a good defence against hackers.

    0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like