Nato kicks-off world’s largest cyber defence exercise

Nato has embarked on the largest of its kind multinational cyber defence exercise, Cyber Coalition 2014, which involves testing the western military alliance’s potential to protect its networks from challenges in the contested cyber domain.

Nato Emerging Security Challenges assistant secretary general Ambassador Sorin Ducaru said: "This exercise will test our systems to make sure that Nato keeps pace with that evolving threat and that the skills and expertise of our cyber specialists are fully up to the task.

"Among the priorities highlighted in the Enhanced Nato Policy on Cyber Defence, endorsed at the Wales Summit, is training and exercises."

The exercise involves participation from more than 400 technical, government and cyber experts, who will operate from dozens of sites from across the Alliance and partner nations.

Mainly aimed at assessing the rapid sharing of information related to cyber incidents, the exercise will also check the potential of the participating nations to organise a defence against a range of targeted cyber incidents involving a Nato mission network.

Ducaru added: "The cyber threat is not just a potential threat, it is daily reality.

"Conflicts can be virtual but with consequences that are real and destructive."