USA and UK announce joint cyber ‘war games’ to improve cyber defenses

The United States and the U.K. announced that they will stage joint cyber “war games” to boost both countries’ resilience to cyberattacks.

The US and the UK are planning to step up the collaboration to fight cyber threats, one of the is a series of joint war games involving cyber units from either side. The hackers will be involved in reciprocal attacks with the intent to discover security flaws to exploit in opponent’s systems.

Military exercises will help both governments in order to improve their defense against the attack of cyber criminals and foreign state-sponsored hackers.

“The two Western powers have also agreed to launch a joint “cyber cell” to share information on cyberthreats, as both countries seek to ramp up their cyberdefenses in the wake of alarming attacks. The FBI and the National Security Agency will be involved, along with Britain’s GCHQ and MI5 intelligence and security agencies.” states stripes.com.

The announcement about the cyber war games between the two countries was made by the Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of talks with US President Barack Obama.

“are one of the biggest modern threats that we face,” said Cameron to the BBC.  It is happening already but it needs to be stepped up,” “It is not just about protecting companies, it is also about protecting people’s data, about protecting people’s finances. These attacks can have real consequences to people’s prosperity,”

GCHQ and the NSA  have a long collaboration and this last initiative confirms that both Intelligence agencies share the same cyber strategy.

Recent events, like the Sony Pictures hack and the threat that cyber jihadists pose against the Western coalition, urge to improve the defense against potential cyber menaces.

In the first phase of the simulated war games, the hackers will stress the security defences of banks and financial institutions, which are among the critical infrastructure most targeted by foreign hackers.

“The first war game will involve the Bank of England and commercial banks, targeting the City of London and Wall Street, and will be followed by “further exercises to test critical national infrastructure”, Downing Street said. Money will also be made available to train “the next generation” of cyber agents.” reports the BBC.

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron will provide more information on the cyber war games:

“This is about pooling our effort so we stay one step ahead of those who seek to attack us,” said Cameron just after the official announcement.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs –  War Games, Information Warfare)