Locked Shields 2024, held at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, described as the world’s most advanced live-fire cyber defense exercise, concluded with an unprecedented twist. Despite the exercise’s competitive nature, participating teams formed a grand coalition by sharing information.
“The purpose of the exercise is to help our nations develop their capabilities to face cyber threats as a coalition,” said Dr Mart Noorma, the Director of the NATO CCDCOE. “We have real threats around us, and most of our participants came out of the trenches of real cyber warfare to participate in Locked Shields. I am confident they will go back defending their nations stronger than ever.
Locked Shields scoring provides feedback to participating teams to stimulate their further development and benchmarking. The three highest-scoring teams of Locked Shield 2024 are:
- Latvia, together with a team of NATO entities
- Finland-Poland
- Estonia-France
“Every year, Locked Shields aims to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in cyber defence training, and 2024 has been no exception,” said Lt. Col. Urmet Tomp, Director of the exercise. “The skills trained here directly translate to stronger national defences against real-world cyber threats, enhancing our collective security,” he added.
