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Peru Hosts OAS Cyber Crisis Simulation

The Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS), in collaboration with the Peruvian Ministry of National Defense and the National Office of E-Government and Information (ONGEI) today launched a two day cyber security crisis simulation in Lima, Peru.

The simulation aims to test communication channels between the various institutions responsible for protecting Peruvian citizens from cyber threats. Participants will face a wide range of simulated cyber incidents affecting the country’s critical infrastructure, which could disrupt everyday life and the wellbeing of Peruvian society.

The Executive Secretary of CICTE, Neil Klopfenstein, noted that the exercise is “another demonstration of the commitment of the OAS/CICTE to help strengthen the capabilities of the Peruvian government on cyber security issues.” Likewise, Klopfenstein reiterated that, “risks remain critical,” and called for the support of government, the private sector and civil society to invest more resources to deal with these threats.

The Minister of Defense of Peru, Pedro Cateriano Bellido, thanked the OAS/CICTE for its will to bring its mobile laboratory to Peru, which allowed organizers to tailor the simulation to the needs of his country needs. He noted that Peru is "taking steps to improve the effective capacity of the country, which will allow us to improve the prevention, detection, mitigation, response to and recovery from threats in cyberspace."

During the opening ceremony, the Director of the ONGEI, Carlos Cabrera, emphasized that steps are being taken to strengthen Peru’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (PeCERT) and said the event would identify actions to improve the team’s ability to cope with emerging cyber threats.

The exercise includes simulated denials of service, website defacements, and theft of bank accounts, among other incidents that have damaged companies and the economies of several countries. The exercise is the result of a joint effort between CICTE and the OAS Department of Information Services and Technology. As part of the simulation, interactions with media and social networks are recreated to provide greater realism to technicians and politicians responding to simulated incidents.

The exercise is being held at the Superior School of the Peruvian Air Force, and includes representatives from civil society, the energy sector, the finance sector, internet service providers, and other stakeholders from the private sector and critical infrastructure operators, in addition to government participants.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-354/13