Islamic computer emergency response team takes part in APCERT drill
Computerworld (27 Feb 2012)

The annual drill completed in February by the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team to test the response capability of computer security incident response teams in the region has included the cooperation of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation - Computer Emergency Response Team for the first time, according to the government security agency CyberSecurity Malaysia.

"This participation of the Islamic Cooperation - Computer Emergency Response Team [OIC-CERT] in this year's Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team  [APCERT] drill to test the capability of the Computer Security Incident Response Teams [CSIRT] from Asia Pacific economies is one of the results of a memorandum of understanding signed in 2011," said CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer, Lt Col (retired) Prof Dato' Husin Jazri.

"In addition, CyberSecurity Malaysia through its security response arm, MyCERT, is proud to be part of this annual event as this establishes stronger ties among the leading security teams in the region." said Husin. "Securing the nation is not a one-off event, but a process that consists of many activities to ensure the right people, process and technologies are in place."

"The theme of the APCERT Drill 2012 is 'Advance Persistent Threats and Global Coordination'," he said. "The objective of the drill is for participating teams to exercise incident response handling arrangements locally and internationally to mitigate the impact of advance persistent threats that involved large scale malicious software propagation and attacks capable of impairing the critical infrastructure and economic activities."

"This exercise reflected the strong collaboration amongst the economies, and it also enhanced the communication protocols, technical capabilities and quality of incident responses for assuring Internet security and safety," said Husin.

Nineteen (19) CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams) from 16 economies (Australia, Bangladesh, People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam) of APCERT and three CSIRT teams from three economies (Tunisia, Egypt and Pakistan) of OIC-CERT participated in the drill.

APCERT was established by leading and national Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) from the economies of the Asia Pacific region to improve cooperation, response and information sharing among CSIRTs in the region. APCERT consists of 28 CSIRTs from 19 economies.

OIC-CERT was established in June 2005, to provide a platform for member countries to explore and to develop collaborative initiatives and possible partnerships in matters pertaining to cyber security that shall strengthen their self reliant in the cyberspace. OIC-CERT consists of 22 CERTs and cyber security related agencies from 18 economies.