From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  NATO has continued to implement its new cyber defence policy through a comprehensive and ambitious action plan launched in October 2011. In the spring of 2012, NATO concluded an important contract for 58 million Euros with a consortium of private companies to significantly upgrade its unique operational cyber defence capability, the NATO Computer Incident Response Capability (NCIRC).

When this project is completed in the autumn of 2013 and all NATO networks are brought under centralised protection, NATO’s ability to defend its military and civilian networks against all types of intrusion and attack will be greatly enhanced. NATO will also be in a better position to assist Allies and partners to detect, defend against and recover from cyber attacks, and to deploy Rapid Reaction Teams upon request. To further enhance its cyber defence capabilities, NATO established a cyber threat assessment cell and held its first full-scale crisis management exercise based on a cyber defence scenario. Another annual exercise, known as “Cyber Coalition”, was also held. It involved both Allies and partners, and proved its worth in testing incident response and crisis management procedures.

Excerpts from "Secretary General’s Annual Report 2012," by Anders Fogh Rasmussen.   (photo: C4I Technology News)

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