Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (TRA) recently held a cyber security drill for operators to test their ability to handle cyber threats, in collaboration with Cyber Ranges by Silensec, a top information security training firm.

The cyber security drill, held at Wyndham Grand hotel, was mainly to offer organizations in the telecom and other industries the opportunity to accelerate the development of a competent cybersecurity workforce against current and emerging threats.

According to the Fifth Telecommunications Plan (NTP-5) published earlier this year, TRA said regular cyber drills will be conducted to assess the sector's readiness to deal with cyber and physical threats, and to take into account risks exacerbated by new technologies.

As a regulator, the TRA said it is responsible to protect the interests of telecom subscribers and users.

Such exercises enable the sector to practice procedures, test business continuity plans, enhance skills and knowledge, and strengthen preparedness.

Further, these exercises enable participants and observers to identify the gaps in the processes and procedures applied to handle incidents by verifying the extent of coordination and collaboration amongst Licensees. Ultimately, to ensure that the critical telecom infrastructure is resilient, thereby providing efficient services to end-users, it stated.

TRA’s General Director Philip Marnick dubbed these drills as essential to improve the response to security incidents as well as ensure network resilience.

'It entails early preparation for network security incident handling after establishing a process for defending the organization,' stated the top official.

The event was held in collaboration with Cyber Ranges by Silensec, an international information security training and management firm and an official cyber range provider of the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

'Cyber drill exercises in the telecom sector will ensure that cybersecurity problems are effectively addressed and resolved. They are also significant as they establish the requirement for proper contingency plans,' added Marnick.

Cyber Ranges CEO Dr Al Graziano said cyber drills offer organizations in the telecom and other industries the opportunity not only of validating the capability of their incident response teams on a regular basis, but also of accelerating the development of a competent cybersecurity workforce against current and emerging threats.

'On our next-generation cyber range telcos can build high-fidelity replicas of their critical infrastructure and carry out deep-dive, hands-on simulations of potential crises to test their stand and resilience against cyber risk,' he added.

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