Brazil raises cyber defense game

As cyber attacks grow more frequent and severe worldwide, the Brazilian government is pressing ahead with plans to launch a dedicated unit to ensure that the country has sturdy cyber defense and counter-attack mechanisms.

The brief of Brasilia-based Center of Cyber Defense (CDCiber) will be to protect military and governmental bodies as well as other information infrastructure that, if compromised, could cause irreparable public harm.

The center will be run by about 100 officials from the Brazilian Army, Air Forces and the Navy. Staff will have enough technical knowledge to be able to perform the tasks at the center – which will include a lab for simulation of incidents and cyberwar – but it is understood that the officials are being encouraged to seek further specialization in courses such as masters and doctorates in computer science and cyber defense.

It is estimated that the cyber security center will be up and running in the second half of 2011. The launch of the new unit is being dealt with as a matter of priority by the Institutional Security Office (GSI), the body responsible for security measures in public administration in Brazil.

The GSI runs a myriad of public computer networks covering about one million public sector users; the body is now mapping vulnerabilities across the country’ s public systems that are considered strategic, according to Valor Econômico.

GSI’s director-general of information security and communications Raphael Mandarino Jr told the paper that the Brazilian government currently detects more than 2,000 hacking attempts to government websites every hour.

Image by Lord Dane licensed under Creative Commons.