Second week in, cybersecurity Exercise Amber Mist 2019 organised by the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces is training interinstitutional and international military cooperation on protecting from cyber threats critical information infrastructure of importance to the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
Over 100 experts from Lithuania , United States, Georgia, Ukraine and European Union member states are training at Exercise Amber Mist 2019 on November 11–22. The exercise evaluates the ability of the Rapid Reaction Teams (RRTs) to carry out defensive cybersecurity operations – assess hostile actions in cyberspace, detect and identify cyber threats, prevent potential cyber-attacks and neutralise their effect.
“The situation in cyberspace is changing particularly rapidly in the past years. Cyber-attacks have turned into a new, modern dangerous weapon that can paralyze operation not only of separate institutions, and production, trade, transport, communications, electricity power, water supply companies, but also armed defence of the state, therefore a discerning mind is now the most important weapon,” Vice Minister of National Defence Edvinas Kerza said before visiting the training audience.
The exercise also includes a RRT of Lithuanian, Dutch Polish, Romanian and Finnish cybersecurity experts, developed by Lithuania’s initiative in the EU Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework. The team also has two additional tasks. The first one is to train teamwork, information sharing, cooperation in identifying and analysing cyber threats, hostile actors and attacks. The other task is to assess the joint cybersecurity capabilities.
The PESCO Team is not only training but also completing teambuilding tasks, preparing operational procedures and discusses compatibility of the used instruments. It is done in preparation for the rotation in 2020 when the first international team formed under PESCO framework and led by Lithuania will enter the standby.
Officer Planning the Exercise Amber Mist 2019 Chief of the Defence Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Major General Gintautas Zenkevičius stressed at the opening event of the exercise that there were increasingly more cases of cyber incidents in the present-day world and that they had an impact on the lives of not just ordinary citizens but also the whole states and their institutions. Larger cyberattacks can disrupt the work of state institutions but also critical infrastructure bodies which could result in mass protests and chaos in the state. Cybersecurity capabilities are being established and developed specifically for preventing actions of hostile forces. The Lithuanian Armed Forces has established and is currently developing cyber capabilities that would be deployed for managing cyber incidents in our country if they occurred.
“The exercise has grown from national to international format over the five years and rose to a new qualitative level. Coordination of actions and procedures when tackling cyber incidents not only in the Lithuanian Armed Forces systems but also in critical infrastructure subjects is particularly necessary,” Chief of the Joint Staff Maj Gen G. Zenkevičius said.
The most important tool used in Exercise Amber Mist 2019, a cyber-range where the RRTs train, was developed by a unit of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Communications and Information Systems Battalion formed by active reserve personnel.
“This year the cyber-range has been created to mimic business systems and the needs of trade, as well as IT management processes in large organisations. This way the exercise not only teaches technical aspects of ensuring security but also allows to accommodate to the IT management practices in trade – which in its turn improves standard procedures of RRTs by drawing them closer to real-life circumstances,” Technical Director of the exercise Capt Tomas Mogodia said.
Exercise Amber Mist 2019 includes participants from the Defence Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Communications and Information Systems Battalion, Information Technology Service under the Ministry of National Defence, Gen Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. They are in charge of ensuring cybersecurity and conduct of cyber operations in peacetime and war. They are joined by cyber incident response teams formed by professional military service, active reserve soldiers and cybersecurity experts of Vilnius University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lietuvos geležinkeliai JSC, Ignitis JSC, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Ukraine and Georgia.
Related image, credit: Sgt Spc Ieva Budzeikaitė
