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Following a recent pan-European test of the continent’s cyberdefences, a report has found that Europe needs to improve communication to allow for better co-ordination in tackling such attacks.

On 4 November, 2010, 30 countries simulated a giant cyberattack which systematically paralysed the continent’s critical internet services, to see how successfully we could counter real cyberwarfare. The fictitious scenario saw internet connectivity between countries becoming gradually unavailable as security experts from countries such as the UK, Norway and France worked together to reroute traffic and prevent a total network disaster.

But while the test attack was successfully countered, the results show that better communication would be needed in a real world scenario. Different member states tackled the problem in a variety of ways, meaning that each country had trouble understanding how others were dealing with the situation.

Plus, some member states got lost in the structures and hierarchies of the different countries, and didn’t know who to contact. The report found that the pan-European directory of contacts needed more regular maintenance.

Going forward, the organisers say that the private sector needed to be included in future tests as this group of businesses owns much of the continent’s network. Plus, individual member states need to keep up the exercises, and increase their separate efforts.

The idea of crippling a country’s infrastructure by attacking its internet connectivity has been a concern as of late, with new worries that our infrastructure may be open to cyberattack. In October, Iain Lobban, director of British intelligence gathering facility GCHQ, said critical parts of the UK’s infrastructure -- including power grids and emergency service -- faced “real and credible” threats of cyberattacks.

On 9 November, UK defence minister Nick Harvey said it was “only a matter of time“ before terrorists targeted our internet infrastructure. The government has pledged to spend  £650m over the next four years on improving the country’s cyberdefences.


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