Training for contemporary threats

A SVK Armed Forces cyber defence team achieved the best results at Exercise Locked Shields 2016, an international cyber defence exercise, organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (NATO CCD COE). “The fact that members of the SVK Armed Forces were evaluated as the most capable team is a proof that we have been paying adequate attention to cyber operations in cyberspace. It is a great success they performed extremely well amid intense international competition, and this proves our soldiers have a good reputation abroad,” said Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš. “The change of the security reality and the new forms of threats connected with them call for measures to be taken even at the level of the SVK Armed Forces. They must be capable of responding to contemporary threats emanating from cyberspace,” noted the Minister. “The exercise is aimed at training cyber security specialists who are entrusted with protecting national IT systems on a day-to-day basis,” added SVK Chief of Defence Gen Milan Maxim. A total of 19 countries participated in the exercise. As part of the exercise scenarios, the teams of cyber specialists were tasked to fend off myriads of attacks. Also, the specialists rehearsed handling incidents, sending incident reports, making analyses, and providing adequate media responses.