NATO team tackles cyber-crisis exercise in Estonia

<p>By Gozde Bayar</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – A team of nearly 40 cyber security experts led by NATO are competing in Locked Shields 2019, the world’s largest “live-fire” cyber exercise starting Tuesday, said a statement by the bloc.</p> <p>Organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in the Baltic nation of Estonia, the annual exercise is a unique opportunity for cyber experts to enhance their skills in defending national information technology (IT) systems and critical infrastructure under real-time attacks, the statement added.</p> <p>The three-day exercise uses a game-based &quot;live-fire&quot; approach, enabling participants to take on roles in fictional response teams in a laboratory environment.</p> <p>This year’s exercise scenario covers a fictitious country called Berylia, which faces cyber-attacks on its civilian infrastructure in the midst of national elections.</p> <p>The attacks lead to severe disruptions in areas such as water purification systems, the electric power grid, and 4G public safety networks.</p> <p>The team's main goal is to protect the networks from further attacks.</p> <p>The NATO team, which emerged as the winner of previous Locked Shields, strengthened itself this year with 10 volunteers from six NATO allies — Bulgaria, Croatia, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey.</p> <p>More than 1,000 international cyber defenders and decision-makers will take part in the exercise.</p> <p>Locked Shields is a unique opportunity to encourage experimentation, training and cooperation between members of CCDCOE, NATO, and partner nations since 2010.</p>