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Cyber Polygon 2021
Cyber Polygon 2021

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About Cyber Polygon

Cyber Polygon is an international online training aimed at increasing global cyber resilience.

In 2021, Cyber Polygon combined three tracks:

  • Online conference for general public
  • Technical training for corporate cybersecurity teams
  • Expert track for field professionals featuring presentations by cybersecurity experts
How it was
Concept

We dedicated Cyber Polygon 2021 to secure ecosystem development.

Digital ecosystems perform billions of services each day — from making doctor’s appointments and communicating with family members to registering a business and managing finances. In this context, the resilience of supply chain networks is an issue of worldwide concern, as the vulnerability of a single organization can undermine an entire supply system.

Online conference
Guests of honour
Mikhail Mishustin
Mikhail Mishustin
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Klaus Schwab
Klaus Schwab
Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
What was discussed
The obstacles that ecosystems must overcome and the role that technology plays in the evolution of the digital world

Large ecosystems like Apple and other tech companies need to study and enhance the user experience, because everything works together — gadgets, software, applications. Technologies make us more capable than we were and change the way we live our lives

Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak
Co-founder, Apple Computer
The future of the financial system as digital currencies continue to develop

When we began to look at what stablecoin and central bank digital currencies might accomplish, we thought that we could look at them as equivalent to other 190 currencies in our system. So, we went into the core of the system and added the ability to exchange stablecoins or, in the future, CBDCs over our existing network

Matthew Dill
Matthew Dill
Global Head of Strategic Partnerships & Ventures, Senior Vice President, Visa
The need to protect children against cyberbullying and other online threats

I definitely think that governments with their justice system should take the lead and set the laws, rules and regulations that will help if some sort of illegal activity is going on. Besides, businesses and corporations can be part of this solution because they set the ethics and the morals of their employees and their families. So, it will be a solution that all of us will need to come to together

Henrietta H. Fore
Henrietta H. Fore
Executive Director, UNICEF
The way technologies can help the victims of warfare

Victims of war and violence have more than their physical needs. They need information on where they are and where it is safe to go, they need connectivity in order to know where their relatives are, to link their devices to services, e.g. to receive cash on their cell phones to be able to survive. In that regard, two most important issues we see now are the protection of critical infrastructure and the prevention of misuse of information

Peter Maurer
Peter Maurer
President, International Committee of the Red Cross
The international collaboration in the fight against cybercrime

The need for a global coordinated response has never been greater, as we continue to live and work in an environment ever more suited to cybercrime. Working with private industry and public partners is a must to close the cyber enforcement gap. For INTERPOL, this means leading global efforts in the domain of cyber attribution by leveraging operational and investigative support to bring cybercriminals to justice

Jürgen Stock
Jürgen Stock
Secretary General, INTERPOL

Top officials from ICANN, Mastercard, IBM, Microsoft and other international organizations also took part in the discussions. All recordings are available in the gallery.


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The direct line with the International Space Station for the 60th anniversary of the first manned flight to space

Russian cosmonauts discussed data protection in space and the prospects for international cooperation in the space industry.

Oleg Novitskiy
Hero of the Russian Federation, ROSCOSMOS Test Cosmonaut
Pyotr Dubrov
ROSCOSMOS Test Cosmonaut
7 million viewers from 78 countries
watched the online conference
Technical training

The participants, as the blue teams, practised response to a targeted supply chain attack on a corporate ecosystem. The event organizers, acting as the red team, simulated the attack.

The training lasted 24 hours and included two scenarios:

  • Defense, when the participants exercised their skills in repelling an ongoing large-scale attack on a business-critical system,
  • Response, as the teams conducted a full-scale investigation of the incident using both traditional computer forensics techniques and the Threat Hunting approach.
200 teams from 48 countries
joined the technical part of the training
Expert track

In 2021, the technically-oriented audience was able to access the expert track featuring reports and presentations by practical experts from IBM, Microsoft, Kaspersky, Wallarm, and Netskope. All the materials are available in the gallery.


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Conclusions
Training is still the most direct path to success

Second- or third-time participants developed clear strategies for solving the tasks. Newcomers did not demonstrate any clear strategies.

When responding to real incidents, a working strategy will help save time and minimise damage. This is why training is so important.

The teams were better prepared to repel attacks than last year

This year, 85% of the teams managed to score points for the first scenario, while only 73% did so last year.

Presumably, more teams have developed their expertise in web application security analysis and protection.

The teams performed better in Threat Hunting than in forensics

In 2021, the teams found it more difficult to do classical digital forensic investigation than to collect telemetry from EDR agents and to apply the Threat Hunting approach.

Apparently, more organizations are now experienced in using the Threat Hunting method.

Financial institutions, IT companies and government agencies led the ranks

In 2021, the list of TOP 10 teams once again included representatives of IT and the banking sector. This time, however, some teams from the public sector also made the ranks. The latter were few, though, so it is too soon to draw any definitive conclusions just yet. Hopefully, we will see more of them the next year.

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