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Secure State was privileged to be invited to be a part of this event, which occurred in April this year.
It is necessary that we provide best-in-word training for those in Australia who protect our critical systems. Regardless of public or private sector control, intense training exercises and live-fire simulations, are essential to upskill these people. Utilising our national and international networks and partners like NATO CCDCOE, we are making tremendously positive steps towards building our nation's cyber capability.
MATT SALIER, CEO
AUSTRALIAN CYBER COLLABORATION CENTRE
The ‘Blue vs Red’ style exercise aims to train technical teams of cyber professionals (Rapid Reaction Teams) and strengthen their cooperation with legal, media, and strategic decision-making entities through a simulated hostile and vulnerable cyber and information crisis. Planning and implementation of the exercise take place throughout 11 months of the year.
“No other cyber defence exercise can offer as specialised and detailed of an experience as Locked Shields can. 24 Blue Teams from around the world must keep critical infrastructure and IT systems up and running. Teams can demonstrate how well they can keep systems running under real-life situations and high pressure,” said NATO CCDCOE director Mart Noorma.
“Technical specialists cannot solve a cyber crisis alone. Usually, decision-makers and experts from different governmental bodies and walks of life are those who try to repel the attacks,” explains Noorma. “This is why, in addition to cyber defence, we focus on strategy games, legal issues, and crisis communication at Locked Shields. Cooperation must be swift, because a large cyberattack can quickly escalate into a large-scale security crisis, and these kinds of exercises allow us to be better prepared,” added Noorma.
For the first time in the thirteen years Locked Shields has been running, Australia has participated in the Partner Run. The function of the Partner Run is to test the Game Day scenario, systems and technology before the main event in April, honing the red team tactics for the full exercise. The partner run is a crucial component of the full-scale exercise and many of the teams in the partner run train for up to six months.
