Cyber exercise brings together Defense League, public and private sector

The Estonian Defense League's (Kaitseliit) Cyber Unit is taking part in a large-scale cyber attack simulation exercise for the first time in Tallinn this week, joining other public and private sector institutions as well as international experts.
The Cooperative Resilience (Cyber CoRe) exercise, created by CybExer Technologies and EY Netherlands, is a unique format for both enterprises and public sector institutions to improve their skills in dealing with threats in supply chain and address attacks against critical information infrastructures, according to a CybExer press release.
The Cyber CoRe exercise started on Thursday and continues Friday, bringing together over 12 companies and institutions, including experts from the NorwegianTax Administration, the University of Porto, Portugal, the University of Tartu, Tartu City Government and the Estonian Cyber Defense League.
The event represents the first time when enterprises together, with a military organization, have trained in resilience against the most recent threat vectors in cyber space.
The exercise's motto is "Resilience through Cooperation", so-called since it aims to increase cooperation and information sharing between enterprises, academia and government technical cyber security teams.
Prevention, detection and response to large-scale cyber attack
The primary objective of the exercise is to test the skills of teams of IT specialists in preventing, detecting, responding to and reporting on full-scale cyber-attacks.
Raul Rikk, the National Cyber Security Policy Director at the economic affairs ministry, concluded his opening remarks by noting the exercise was a world-class private initiative, which unites academia, government institutions and companies in a joint effort of responding to cyber threats.
Andrus Padar, Chief of the Defense League's Cyber Unit, added that: "It is great to have such an occasion to test the skills of the Estonian Cyber Defense League members. This tailor-made, live-fire exercise, where defending "blue" teams face an attack campaign from the "red" team, best prepares us for real life crises."
Merle Maigre, executive vice president of government relations at CybExer Technologies, underlined the steep learning curve of the exercise.
"As an owner and operator of the region's most advanced private cyber range, we are honored to offer a platform where companies can meet with experts from the military and academia, train together and build community to deal with cyber threats," she said.
"As enterprises and governments around the world increasingly turn to digitalization, we are all becoming aware of the cyber risk but we also all experience talent shortages. Managing this risk requires highly skilled talent, which is in constant demand. The best long-term plan is to groom the next generation of cyber experts at exercises and individual training sessions," Maigre went on.
The exercise is taking place both at Cybexer Technologies' premises on Toompuiestee 35, as well as at other locations.
Tallinn is also home to NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE).
Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte