The organizers (from left to right): Dr. Helmut Leopold, KSÖ Vice President, Head of Center for Digital Safety & Security, AIT, Dr. Guido Jestädt, Member of the Board at BAWAG Group AG, Andreas Reichhardt, BMF, Mag. Markus Popolari, Direktion Digitale Services, BMI (in Vertretung von Bundesminister Gerhard Karner), Dr. Alexander Janda, Generalsekretär KSÖ; Credit: Katharina Schiffl
On November 6 and 7, the Competence Center for a Secure Austria (KSÖ), together with the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and the BAWAG Group, organized the seventh cyber simulation game. The cybersecurity exercise, which took place on a state-of-the-art IT infrastructure, aimed to train representatives of Austrian and international companies and authorities to respond to an emergency using a fictitious hybrid attack on the state, economy and society. The added value of realistic simulation games and training has been confirmed as very positive and important by the various stakeholders in the context of many exercises in recent years (see also ).
The exercise scenario: hybrid attack on banking infrastructure
In this cyber security training, the approximately 100 participants took on various roles as employees of the fictitious industrial company OptiTeq and the fictitious OeBank, which were both the targets of a massive cyber attack carried out by a criminal syndicate. To defend against these attacks, participants had to respond appropriately to identify the threats and take appropriate countermeasures. Challenges included protecting sensitive data, defending against a ransomware attack, containing fake information and disinformation campaigns, and preventing financial theft. Participants were also confronted with physical attack vectors on production facilities and fake bank transactions. The aim of the training was to improve the ability to respond to complex, coordinated attacks to ensure business continuity in critical situations.
Read the fill german article here.