The best 300 specialists who protect us from cyber-attacks went through the emotions of an exercise set up by the Romanian Intelligence Service. The simulated attacks tested the reaction of experts from the Ministry of Defense, banks, mobile phone, and electricity companies. Computer scientists took good grades, even though at the last test they fell into the trap of an email trap, infected with a virus.
Last year, 7 out of 10 computers were cyber-attacked. This means that about 3 million computers have been targeted by hackers. Experts had to handle more than 130 million alerts. 25% more compared to 2016.
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And the attacks are getting stronger, experts say. In order to test the skill of the specialists who fight with computer pirates, the exercise presented them with dramatic scenarios, in which they worked under the pressure of time.
Sebastian Pitei, IT director: I assumed a cyber attack on a power station. It’s good news to see that everyone who played has detected the attack.
But the specialists still have work to do. Experts from the Special Telecommunications Service tested them with a poisoned e-mail virus, created especially for this exercise.
Anton Rog, head of Cyberint SRI: Although we have people here who deal with cybersecurity all day, the vast majority of them clicked on the link in the mail. If it was an infection, they were all fully infected.
Attacks on smartphones are among the most dangerous, experts say. That’s why they tested the skill of experts with many virus simulations.
Liviu Arsene, BITDefender security specialist: Mobile phones are constantly around us. In other words, they are the best spies.
The cybersecurity exercise is one of the largest and most complex in Southeast Europe.