APCERT Nailed Down Online Underground Economy in Annual Regional Drill Exercise

The Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (HKCERT) recently joined hands with 13 counterpart bodies in the Asia Pacific in an annual regional drill to enhance their preparedness in fighting against organized malicious cyber attacks.

HKCERT, managed by the Hong Kong Productivity Council, also involved in the design of the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) drill scenarios which simulated large scale attacks by professional cyber criminal groups. Mr Roy Ko, Manager of HKCERT, said, "The drill, completed on 4 December 2008, has successfully closed down some botnets and stopped the malware propagation. More importantly, participants have enhanced collaboration, and improved communication and technical capabilities in tackling the attacks."

Mr Husin Jazri, Head of Cybersecurity Malaysia, Chair of APCERT, said, "The simulated attacks were themed to be deployed by professional cyber criminal groups who trade stolen data or malicious online service in the underground economy. The online underground economy is growing and cyber criminal groups are becoming more organized and scattered across border, impairing healthy economic activities and political stability. These groups can even hide behind legitimate service providers."

"This year, attackers have been compromising legitimate web servers, injecting 'invisible' codes into web pages to redirect visitors to malware hosting servers. The malware then turns the victimized machines into part of the botnets controlled by cyber criminals," Mr Ko added.

The exercise took place on 4 December 2008 which lasted from 2300 GMT to 0800 GMT across five time zones. The participating teams include 14 teams representing 13 economies in the Asia Pacific regions, namely Australia, Brunei, the mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. HKCERT is the Deputy Chair of APCERT.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (HKCERT)
Tel: (852) 8105 6060
Fax: (852) 8105 9760
E-mail: hkcert@hkcert.org
Web Page: http://www.hkcert.org/

5 December 2008