Tackling Cyberthreats for Government IT Ecosystem: How well prepared are you?

“Cyberthreats are constantly growing more challenging and sophisticated.”

    (Air Chief Marshal Dr. Prajin Juntong, Deputy Prime Minister, Thailand at the inauguration of Thailand CyberSecurity Week 2017)

Thailand has become one of the prime targets in Southeast Asia for the advanced persistent threats (APTs) that have been hitting computing networks around the world. APTs such as the Spring Dragon attacks have become a growing cyber risk for countries aspiring to develop a digital economy and society like Thailand, as exemplified by initiatives under the Thailand 4.0 modernisation programme.

According to Electronics Transactions Development Agency (EDTA), there were more than 4,000 cyber-attacks in the country in 2016, up 10% from 2015. 

To give boost to Thailand’s cybersecurity measures, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will soon chair a committee for the preparation of cyber-security policy and planning proposals, following the Cabinet’s approval of a PM’s Office regulatory draft.

Proposed by the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, the draft regulation authorises the committee to make legal suggestions, including drafting national policy and plans on cyber-security, for the cabinet’s consideration. The panel will also set up an office for the national cyber security committee, information infrastructure as well as lining up cooperation between private and governmental agencies.

The goal of the proposed Cybersecurity bill is to ensure that national security, economy, public health, energy, military, and domestic order-keeping will not be affected. The committee will function until a permanent law on cyber-security is enacted.

With cyber threats looming large, what would you do? How well prepared are you?

As we all know, cyber-threats are becoming ever more sophisticated. Without effective solutions to mitigate them, governments are at the mercy of cyber-attacks that leave confidential data exposed and cause reputational damage. And we are not even talking about draining financial resources, and disrupting seamless service delivery levels to the citizens!

OpenGov invites you to be part of a realistic scenario simulation of a cyber threat ...yes, we find novel ways to inform, collaborate and educate!

Equip you through GAMIFICATION, with practical and strong cybersecurity management skills via a proven and effective KASPERSKY INTERACTIVE PROTECTION SIMULATION (KIPS for Government). The goal is to make sure senior management teams are always powered on and prepared to withstand and remediate against cyberthreats.

Since its inception in 2013, KIPS has been played by 3500 senior level security professionals from 17 countries and has benefitted from it.

“What does emerge from the exercise, though, is that some of the first and most basic strategic decisions you take, will help enormously with the incident responses you may have to make later on.”                               

                                                                            Mark Jenkins · ICT Qatar

What is KIPS

The Simulation is an exercise that places senior management teams from government departments into a realistic simulated environment facing a series of unexpected cyber threats, while trying to protect classified information and maintain confidence.

The idea is to build a cyber defence strategy by making choices from amongst the best proactive and reactive controls available.

Every reaction made by the teams to the unfolding events changes the way the scenario plays out, and ultimately shows how well prepared the agency is to protect sensitive information or if it is not.

Why is it an effective simulation

The simulation is targeted at senior management officials and should increase their awareness of the risks and security problems of running modern computerised systems. Each of the competing teams of 4-6 people is tasked with running operations in the most efficient way. This organisation consists of some facilities and computers controlling it. During the rounds of the game, the organisation generates public welfare / state outcomes.

However, the teams also have to face cyber-attacks potentially impacting agency performance. To defend their agency, each team has to take strategic, managerial and technical decisions while taking operational constraints into account and maintaining a high level of citizen centric service delivery levels.

It is going to be a fun-filled, highly engaging 2 hour - 60 mins simulation followed by results declaration and interactive discussions.

At the end of it, you would know how to make the security infrastructure more robust and cyber defences more powerful.

This simulation is a dynamic awareness program based on “learning by doing”. The teamwork builds cooperation, competition fosters initiative & analysis skills and the gameplay develops understanding of cybersecurity measures.

How are you going to benefit from it

After the simulation, players come to the important and actionable conclusions for their everyday job:

• Cyber-attacks impair the normal functioning, causes serious data breach, citizens lose faith in government and hence needs to be addressed from top-management level
• Cooperation and collaboration between all departments is essential for cybersecurity success
• Effective security budget is much smaller than reputational damage you risk losing, and does not require millions,  
• People get used to security controls and its importance (audit, trainings, anti-virus, etc).

This is a closed-door invitation only to an interactive session with Thailand’s top government agencies, organisations and industry experts.

OpenGov makes a concerted effort to provide participants with ample opportunities to plan and develop strategies in the broad area of cybersecurity threat intelligence and risk prevention.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

• Chief Information Officers
• Chief Information Security Officers
• Head of cybersecurity
• Head of IT