“Locked Shields” exercises, dating back to 2010, when the first Estonian-Swedish “Baltic Cyber-Shield” operation was organized, are getting more and more popular, as the years pass. The last year’s edition involved 14 national teams, and the Polish team, the composition of which included representatives of the Ministry of Defence and CERT Polska, took the prestigious, third place in the final ranking. NCIRC (NATO Computer Incident Response Capability) team won the competition, the Estonians, meanwhile, were ranked second.

This year’s edition of the “Locked Shields” operation is the largest and the most advanced international cyber-defence exercise in the world, simulating the realistic battlefield conditions. According to the tradition, the operation is being conducted in line with a realistic real time scenario, and its aim is to protect the national ICT system. 

20 Blue Teams representing 19 nations, along with the NATO CIRC team, are all tasked with maintaining the networking capabilities and ICT services of a fictional country of “Berylia”, during an intense cyber-attack-related crisis. The scenario includes response to the incidents and reporting, along with investigation and problem-solving operations, also pertaining to the problems of legal and media-related nature, and the problems concerning the course of the exercise. Despite the fact that the organizers of the exercise are staying at the Tallinn NATO Centre of Excellence, the teams involved in the operation access the exercise facilities online, and they carry out all of the tasks related to the exercise from the territory of their own countries.