The largest and most complex international cyber defence exercise in the world, Locked Shields 2024, has reached the home stretch. Lithuania trained in the exercise in a joint team formed together with the Netherlands which improved not just the ability to respond to cyber threat but also the international cooperation and helped establish the necessary contacts with Allied experts.
“Cooperation in cyber security exercises is a platform for developing trust and strengthening diplomatic relations through demonstration of commitment to mutual security and cooperation in cyberspace. Identification of lessons learned and shortfalls helps channel resources for cyber defence in the right direction so that the weakest links are troubleshot,” Vice Minister of National Defence Greta Monika Tučkutė says.
According to Director of the National Cyber Security Centre Liudas Ališauskas, Locked Shields 2024 refined the process of sharing threat intelligence and improved efficiency of response to cross-border incidents, best practices and expertise was shared with the Allies, cross-organizational resilience against cyber threats was enhanced with direct expert level contacts.
“Participants of the exercise got to learn organizational cultural differences thus preventing possible misunderstandings, misjudgments or escalation that could result in tensions or conflicts between countries. Also, challenges of cooperation between the many interest groups that coordination presents were identified and tested,” says L. Ališauskas.
“The complex challenges build up technical and communication skills of the training experts so that the work is optimized and advantageous decisions are recognized. It will help us to handle the rapidly changing and re-emerging cyber threats in the future,” Director adds.
The Latvian and NATO expert team as well as the joint Finnish-Polish and Estonian-French teams had the most successful exercise.
Cyber defence Exercise Locked Shields is organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre (CCDCOE). This year it trained approx. 4000 experts from over 40 countries who joined forces in a simulated environment in the defence of infrastructure of a fictional country and people. A fictional yet realistic scenario challenged the participants to protect real computer systems against thousands of attacks and to take tactical and strategic decisions in emergency situations.
The bilateral defence cooperation between Lithuania and the Netherlands encompasses a number of areas: Dutch experts have been close partners in the European Union Cyber Rapid Reaction Team, CRRT, for years now, the country is actively contributing to the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group Lithuania and the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states. In the summer this year the Netherlands will be deploying the Patriot air and missile defence system in Lithuania.
