Exercise “Synergy”: A Cyber Security Exercise Hosted by India

The objective of the Synergy exercise was to Assess, Share and Improve strategies and practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks.

Table of Contents

Exercise “Synergy”- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges
- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Exercise “Synergy” in News

Recently, CERT-In under Ministry of Electronics & IT in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) successfully designed & conducted the Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy”.
The “Synergy” exercise scenario was derived from real life cyber incidents, in which a domestic level (limited impact) ransomware incident escalates to a global cyber security crisis.

Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy”

About: Exercise “Synergy” is a cyber security exercise that is being conducted as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group.
- Synergy” cyber security exercise is being led by India under the leadership of National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).
Participants: Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy” is being held for 13 Countries as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group.
- Each State participated as a National Crisis Management Team having composition from different government agencies including National CERTs/CSIRTs, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA), Communication & IT/ICT Ministry and Security agencies.
Theme: The theme of the exercise “Synergy” was “Building Network Resiliency to counter Ransomware Attacks”.
Organizing Body: Exercise “Synergy” was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform.
Key Objective: The specific objective of the Synergy exercise was to Assess, Share and Improve strategies and practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks.
Achievements: Exercise “Synergy” was successful in meeting its objectives and provided insights for better coordination & cooperation among CRI Member States to build network resiliency and counter ransomware attacks.

Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)

About: Established in 2004, CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur.
- The constituency of CERT-In is the Indian Cyber Community.
- Headquarters: New Delhi
Parent Ministry: works as a functional organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Key functions: as provided by Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008. It designated CERT-In to serve as the national agency to perform the following functions in the area of cybersecurity:
- Collection, analysis, and dissemination of information on cyber incidents.
- Forecast and alerts of cybersecurity incidents
- Emergency measures for handling cybersecurity incidents
- Coordination of cyber incident response activities.
- Issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes, and white-papers relating to information
- security practices, procedures, prevention, response, and reporting of cyber incidents.
- Such other functions relating to cybersecurity as may be prescribed.