Tallinn, Estonia – From 18 to 21 April, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) is hosting Locked Shields 2023, the world’s largest live-fire cyber defense exercise. Over 3,000 participants from 38 nations are taking part in the exercise, which involves protecting real computer systems from real-time attacks and simulating tactical and strategic decisions in critical situations.
Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a watershed moment, and unique in that a major nation-state had engaged in coordinated, convergent digital and physical attacks in an effort to conquer a neighboring country. Leaders will draw lessons from this conflict for years, but one is already clear: the ability to deliver cyber defense assistance must be a key national security capability.