Representatives from 20 allied governments and national agencies participated in a NATO-led exercise focused on strengthening mutual cyber support from April 7 to 11. The exercise aimed to enhance coordination and improve collective responses to significant malicious cyber activities targeting critical national infrastructure. By simulating complex cyber threat scenarios, allies practiced real-time information sharing, joint decision-making, and collaborative response strategies, reinforcing NATO’s commitment to collective cyber defense and resilience across the alliance.

The agency notes that malicious cyber activities have been increasing over time, targeting, amongst others, critical infrastructure, industrial control systems, and government services – to disrupt societies, steal intelligence, or impede military activities. Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022 highlighted the extent to which cyber is now a part of modern conflict, both before and alongside kinetic hostilities.

The exercise, hosted by Czechia, was designed to test and ensure the rapid and efficient functioning of NATO’s Virtual Cyber Incident Support Capability (VCISC).

Introduced at the 2023 Vilnius Summit, the VCISC serves as a coordination hub to streamline allied support during cyberattacks. It connects nations requesting assistance with designated counterparts across the Alliance, facilitating the provision of capabilities such as malware analysis, cyber threat intelligence, and digital forensics. The overarching goal is to help allies reduce the impact of significant cyber incidents and accelerate recovery. This initiative is driven voluntarily by allies, leveraging national resources and expertise.

In response to recent incidents involving undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, Anne Neuberger, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, held discussions in January with her Nordic-Baltic counterparts from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden. The talks centered on enhancing regional cooperation to safeguard these vital undersea infrastructures, which are essential to communication networks and energy systems. Participants expressed shared concerns over the growing range of threats targeting these critical assets.

In a parallel move, NATO launched Operation Baltic Sentry to reinforce the security of critical infrastructure in the region. The initiative aims to strengthen NATO’s military posture in the Baltic Sea and improve the alliance’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to destabilizing activities.

Last July, the NATO Integrated Cyber Defence Centre (NICC) announced that it would enhance the protection of NATO and Allied networks and the use of cyberspace as an operational domain. The Centre will inform NATO military commanders on possible threats and vulnerabilities in cyberspace, including privately owned civilian critical infrastructures necessary to support military activities.

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Source: https://industrialcyber.co/critical-infrastructure/nato-allies-boost-cyber-defense-coordination-focus-on-improving-critical-infrastructure-resilience/