Estonia, Forum, Internet, Security, Technology

Locked Shields is an annual exercise that has been organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) since 2010. The exercise will run from Wednesday to Friday and provides a unique opportunity for national cyber experts to practice protection of national IT systems and critical infrastructure under the intense pressure of a severe cyber attack.

The participating Blue Teams play the role of national rapid reaction teams that are deployed to assist a fictional country in handling a large-scale cyber incident and severe disruptions in the operation of water purification systems, the electric power grid, 4G public safety networks, maritime awareness capability and other critical infrastructure components. A total of 23 states' blue teams are taking part in the exercise against whom attacks are organized by the Red Team operating from Tallinn.

Locked Shields enables cyber security experts to enhance their skills in defending national IT systems and critical infrastructure under real-time attacks. The focus is on realistic scenarios, cutting-edge technologies and simulating the entire complexity of a massive cyber incident, including strategic decision-making, legal and communication aspects, the CCDCOE said. The exercise involves around 4,000 virtualised systems and more than 2,500 attacks altogether.