A joint team of Slovak and Czech cyber defence specialists has won 5th place in the world's largest and most complex international cyber defence exercise called Locked Shields 2022. The event which hosted 24 teams from 32 countries was organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia. The Slovak Republic was represented mainly by specialists from the armed forces, but also from public administration and the private sector.
As part of the exercise, one group of teams had an objective to defend the infrastructure while the other attacked it. Participants defended, for example, a power plant, a water plant, a satellite system, 5G networks, banks, or internal armed forces systems from cyberattacks that were intended to render these facilities inoperable. In addition to the technical part, the exercise also focused on non-technical aspects, such as the legal, communication and analytical dimensions of cyberattacks. The different teams therefore had to address issues of international law, strategic communication, analyze the media environment or recognise the spread of a range of disinformation. Incident reporting and forensic analysis capabilities were also important.
Slovakia and the Czech Republic regularly participate in Locked Shields exercises, with both countries achieving excellent results over the long term. Last year, the Slovak team came seventh, and even won in 2016.
