NATO’s annual large-scale exercise on cyberattacks began on Tuesday, with participants from 32 countries practicing against attacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants. and air defense systems.
The exercise reflects “real-life attack scenarios based on cyberattacks seen over the past 30 years,” Ian West, director of the NATO Center for Cybersecurity, told CNN in an email.
The fake hack will force participants to “maintain and ensure the availability of essential capabilities such as water plants, power plants, air defense systems, financial systems, etc.”
According to the US-based Center for Analysis and Sharing of Financial Services Information, nearly 2,000 participants from 32 countries will participate in the cyber defense exercise known as Locked Shields.
The exercise was planned months in advance and did not directly include cyber threats stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine, West said. But the war, and the suspected Russian and Belarusian cyber activity associated with it, cannot be ignored.
More background information: When the Russian invasion began in late February, suspected Belarusian hackers tried to hack into the email accounts of European government officials “involved in the logistics management of refugees”. fled Ukraine,” according to cybersecurity firm Proofpoint, which discovered the incident.
Around that time, unidentified attackers targeted Ukrainian government contractors with presences in Latvia and Lithuania, two NATO members, with malware that wiped out computer systems, according to the report. Broadcom Software researchers.
Locked Shields, launched in 2010 and inactive at NATO’s Collaborative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Estonia, reflects the alliance’s growing emphasis on cyberspace as a field. multilateral defense.
Although Russia invaded Ukraine to prevent it from joining NATO one day, the bloc’s Center for Cyber Defense Cooperation Excellence voted days after Russia’s invasion to recognize Ukraine as “a party to NATO.” contribute” to the cybersecurity research and training center.
“Ukraine can provide valuable first-hand knowledge of several adversaries in the cyber domain for use in research, exercises and training,” said Col Jaak Tarien, Director of CCDCOE. Jaak Tarien, Director of the CCDCOE, said in a clear nod of years of Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine.
