Croatia participates in NATO's Locked Shields exercise for the first time

The Croatian Armed Forces Cyberspace Command participated for the first time in NATO's largest international cyber defense exercise Locked Shields, which gathered around 4,000 participants from 42 countries from April 13 to 24, the Croatian Ministry of Defense (MORH) announced on Saturday.

As stated, the Croatian Armed Forces Cyberspace Command participated in the exercise for the first time, as the leader of the activity on behalf of the Republic of Croatia, together with employees of SOA, VSOA, the national CERT and private IT companies, who accessed the cyber polygon in Estonia from the "Petar Zrinski" barracks in Zagreb.

The exercise, organized by the NATO Center of Excellence in Estonia (CCDCOE), gathered around 4,000 participants from 42 countries, some of which are NATO members and others are partner countries.

Unlike classic military exercises, Locked Shields takes place in a virtual environment, but with very real scenarios, the press release says.

Participants were divided into teams that took over the defense of a fictional country exposed to coordinated cyber-attacks on key systems: from power grids and water supply to military communication systems. The attacks took place in real time, and the defense teams had to simultaneously protect the infrastructure, analyze threats and make quick decisions under pressure. The defense consisted of 16 blue teams. Croatia with 135 members and North Macedonia with five members made up Blue Team 15.

The peculiarity of this exercise is its multidimensionality. In addition to the technical defense of networks and information systems, participants also face legal, communication and strategic challenges. This simulates the conditions of modern hybrid warfare, in which cyber-attacks are often accompanied by disinformation campaigns and political pressures. It is precisely this approach that allows countries to test not only technological readiness but also coordination between institutions and crisis management capabilities at the national level, it was announced.

The exercise ended on April 24 with the Day of Distinguished Guests at the Croatian Military Academy "Dr. Franjo Tuđman", which was attended by the Commander of the Cyberspace Command, Colonel Davor Stanković, Deputy Chief of the CIS Directorate, Brigadier Tihomir Tomac, Head of the Sector for Communication Systems and Digital Transformation of the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier Eduard Špoljarić, Director of the National Center for Cyber Security Ivan Matić, Inspector of the Defense Inspectorate, Brigadier Davor Dabo, Commander of the Intelligence Regiment, Colonel Željko Perić, and other representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, state administration bodies, and the private sector.

At the ceremony, the national exercise leader and leader of Blue Team 15, Major Dubravko Jerković, presented the course of the exercise, and speeches were also given. The Commander of the ZzKP said that the exercise showed that cyberspace is today an equally important operational environment as land, sea, air and space. He emphasized that threats are increasingly complex, and the response to them is unity, knowledge and coordination.

“These days, our teams have been faced with complex and demanding scenarios. However, an equally important result of the exercise is not only the operational responses, but also the numerous observations and lessons learned that we have collected. They are an extremely valuable foundation for the further development of our capabilities. It is our responsibility to ensure that these experiences do not just remain recorded, but to translate them into concrete measures, improvements to procedures and further capacity building. We must already think about the next step today: preparations for next year's exercise in order to be even more prepared, efficient and resilient,” said Colonel Stanković.

Deputy Chief of the CIS Directorate, Brigadier General Tomac, emphasized the value of cooperation between the civilian and military sectors: When we talk about cooperation between the civilian and military sectors, we have seen an added value. The added value for the civilian sector is that it has observed the organization, structure and hierarchy of the military. On the other hand, the military has seen that there is a huge amount of knowledge that is located in the private sector and that it can use to defend its systems.

“In the context of increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyber-attacks, Locked Shields plays an important role in strengthening international cooperation. Participation in the exercise provides countries with the opportunity to exchange knowledge, develop common procedures and improve interoperability. Special emphasis is placed on the protection of critical infrastructure, the threat of which could have serious consequences for the functioning of modern societies. The exercise has been regularly conducted in Tallinn since 2010, and brings together thousands of experts from the military, public and private sectors who respond to sophisticated cyber threats in simulated conditions, the Ministry of Defense announced.

Source: HRT