Spanish National Police faces Wannacry on Indra’s Cyber Range platform

Over fifty members of the Spanish National Police, experts from the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE), the Autonomous University of Madrid, other university centers and financial institutions participated in an exercise of the utmost difficulty and realism on Indra's Cyber Range training platform that recreated an attack with the malware WannaCry, the same one that, in 2017, put companies and organizations around the world in a tight spot, and a pentesting challenge to detect weak points in organizations.

The test was carried out in the Digital Security and Cyber Intelligence Congress (C1b3rwall) held last week in the National Police Academy in Ávila.

The first exercise tested the skills and speed of seven teams to disinfect machines affected by the WannaCry virus. The participants had to identify the nature of the malware, patch the affected machines and use reversing and forensic techniques to find out data about the malware that would help to recover the encrypted data of the affected machines. 

This frustrated the attackers' expectations to force the payment of a ransom to recover those files. It is estimated that WannaCry expanded to the point of affecting 300,000 machines in over 150 countries in just a few hours. 

The isolation capacity of the Cyber Range platform allowed the active malware to be deployed without compromising the participants' computers.

The second exercise presented participants with the challenge of using penetration or pentesting techniques on the infrastructure of an organization to identify weak points before digital criminals could use them to gain control. 

This type of analysis is the first test that is done to systems to ensure the confidentiality of the data they contain. 

Cyber Range offers personalized training and adapts to the experience and knowledge of each student, who connects remotely using a simple browser. It can be implemented on the user’s servers or, if preferred, one can access Indra's cloud and pay only for the service and use needed.

It is a system that has already trained experts from the Joint Cyber-Defense Command, NATO, European and Ibero-American armies, and other EU police forces.

The use of state-of-the-art smart tools such as CyberRange is the only possible way to train the huge number of cyber-experts that will be needed in the coming years. It is estimated that, in 2022, Europe will have a shortfall of 350,000 specialists, a figure that will soar to 1.5 million professionals all over the world. Having them is vital for the security of countries and for the development of economies, which are becoming increasingly digitalized and interconnected.

How are drone attacks neutralized?

While the cyber competition was taking place, Indra’s engineers demonstrated how to respond to drone attacks, a threat to the security of official buildings, sporting events and public spaces that continues to grow as its use becomes ever more widespread.

Indra’s demonstration with the ARMS system (Anti RPAs multisensor System) was carried out in a flight area and was broadcast on stream for the attendees to follow.

The public could see how the high-definition radar of the ARMS system detected the presence of the drones from several kilometers away and how the long-range infrared cameras confirmed the objective and kept track of it. The system then activated a whole series of countermeasures to block the control link and the navigation systems of the drone, which immediately entered into self-protection mode, neutralizing the aircraft and forcing it to land.

Indra has tested its ARMS system in highly complex environments. This system has been acquired by an Asian country after confirming its effectiveness. In the coming years, all the police forces in the world are expected to have a system of this type. Indra is a leader in military electronic defense, radars, sensors, communications, control centers and unmanned aircraft. This knowledge makes its solution the best in the market.

About Indra

Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the leading global technology and consulting companies and the technological partner for core business operations of its customers world-wide. It is a world-leader in providing proprietary solutions in specific segments in Transport and Defense markets, and a leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America through its affiliate Minsait. Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products, with an end-to-end, high-value focus and with a high innovation component. In the 2018 financial year, Indra achieved revenue of €3.104 billion, with 43,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries and business operations in over 140 countries.