International cyber defence exercise Locked Shields 2021
Between 13 and 16 April 2021, Cyber Command participates, with a team of 21 specialists, at the international cyber defence exercise Locked Shields 2021.The exercise is planned and organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence from Tallinn, Estonia, and has been conducted yearly since 2010, excepting last year-2020. This year’s edition gathers on-line more than 22 teams from allied and partner nations, formed of military and civilian professionals of the cyber security field.
Our country records this year its first participation at LOCKED SHIELDS, with an interdepartmental team coordinated by the Cyber Defence Agency of the Cyber Command. The team is composed of approximative 75 specialists that belong, apart of the Ministry of National Defence, from the other national defence, public order and security system institutions, the National Cyber Security Incident Response Centre and private companies that activate in the field.
The general purpose of the exercise is to improve the training of the cyber security specialists so that, when acting in large interdepartmental and pluridisciplinary teams, they can protect national IT networks and critical infrastructure against real-time, multiple and multidirectional attacks.
In order to fulfill that purpose, LOCKED SHIELDS 2021 focuses on realistic scenarios, the usage of cutting-edge technologies and the simulation of the entire complexity of large scale cyber incidents, including the strategic decision-making, legal and public communication fields.
The participation at the LOCKED SHIELDS 2021 exercise provides a valuable opportunity for, first, the improvement of the collective training through its conduct in a challenging and exigent environment, and second, the development of interoperability, resilience and agility of cyber defence, command and control, legal and public relations organizations, in order to respond promptly and efficiently at any occuring cyber incident.
