04 November 2011, 10:42

First transatlantic cyber-manoeuvres

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On Thursday, the US and EU undertook in Brussels their first joint cyber-security exercise. With the support of the EU's cyber security agency ENISA and the US Department of Homeland Security, a range of threat scenarios were played out as part of an exercise codenamed Cyber Atlantic 2011. According to an ENISA press release issued on Thursday, the exercise was aimed at exploring cooperation in the event of a cyber-attack.

One scenario simulated an attack on EU member states' cyber-security agencies aimed at stealing and publishing confidential documents. Another scenario simulated an attack on power company control and data systems.

According to the press release, 20 EU states took part in the exercise, which was held under the auspices of the European Commission. The exercises made use of information gleaned from the first European cyber-security stress test conducted by the EU last year. The transatlantic cyber war games are part of security measures agreed at the NATO summit in Lisbon in 2010.

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