Practicing International Cyber Defence Operations

The goal of the exercise was training the experts of the participating Member States, and practicing the cooperation between nations. The task was the prevention of cyber-attacks launched against different strategically vital systems, and the recovery of damages caused in the cyber space.

The participating nations by forming so called Blue Teams, acted in a fictitious situation. They were tasked to maintain the protection of the strategically important industrial plants and infrastructure of a fictitious NATO Member State, and to ensure the continuous operation of services (water- and electricity network, communication, online public administration), while the hostile party keeps attacking the systems. The tasks had to be solved in an imaginary NATO operational environment, based on realistic incidents.

The participants coming from the different military organisations solved the complex operational, recovery, technical analysis, legal and strategical tasks in close cooperation. The technical personnel were struggling in the first frontline with the attacks hitting in the virtual space, but the consequences had to be tackled by the participants on strategical level, too. The events had to be processed from a legal and a defence political aspect, and besides the teams were tasked to respond the ever growing media interest.

The network required for the exercise was provided by the organisers of the exercise in the virtual space by remote access from Tallinn, where the exercise was planned and controlled. The testing of the virtual environment happened a month earlier, in which the Hungarian party took part with a separate team.