Tremendous success of Slovak and Czech cyber defenders on Ex Locked Shields

The joint Slovak-Czech cyber defence team has placed 5th on Ex Locked Shields 2022, the world's largest and most complex international cyber defence exercise, staged by the NATO Cooperative Cyber ​​Defence Centre of Excellence (NATO CCDCOE) in Tallinn, Estonia. The exercise, which had taken 6 month to prepare, engaged a total of 24 teams from 32 participating nations worldwide. Given the enormous interest in the exercise, it was necessary to put the countries into joint teams.

Therefore, Slovakia teamed up with Czechia for the exercise. The joint SVK-CZE team was put to the test through a series of challenges in different categories. Both countries have been deepening their cooperation in this field, with their collaborative cyber efforts spanning well beyond the exercise. The Slovak Republic was represented on the exercise by national cyber experts from the Armed Forces, the government agencies, and the private sector.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “Our professionalsʼ cyber domain of operations is getting increasingly important and more extensive to include the constantly evolving hybrid threats. Iʼm pleased to see that Ex Locked Shields 2022 has once again tested the capabilities to defend civilian and military IT systems and critical infrastructure systems in a quality-assured manner, not to mention the excellent results of the Slovak-Czech team.”

The benefit of the exercise was not as much in its extent, but rather in its complexity. This was about a technical exercise where the blue teams (BTs) from the participating countries countered the red teams (RTs) drawn from the ranks of the exercise organisers, repelling cyberattacks on the infrastructure entrusted to them. As Cyber Rapid Reaction Teams (CRRTs), they defended a power station, a water purification station, a satellite system, 5G networks, banks, and military networks against cyberattacks aimed at causing disruptions to their operation.

In addition to the challenges of the exercise's technical phase, the exercise also centred on the non-technical aspects of cyber operations such as the legal, media and analytical dimensions of cyberattacks. To this end, individual teams were challenged with international law issues, strategic communications, media landscape analysis, as well as sorting out the incoming tide of information and disinformation. In addition, the ability to conduct forensic analysis and incident reporting was greatly valued for the success of the teams during the exercise.

The Slovak and Czech Republics have regularly taken part in Ex Locked Shields. In the long run, both countries have achieved excellent results in the NATO cyber defence competition. The SVK cyber defence team placed 7th in 2021 and even took home the top gong in 2016.

For more information on Ex Locked Shields 2022, go to the CCDCOE website CCDCOE.