The National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) participated in Crossed Swords 2023, hosted by CCDCOE

The National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) participated in Crossed Swords 2023, which took place in Estonia from December 11 to 14, 2023. Crossed Swords 23 (XS23) is an exercise designed to train the cyber specialists conduct successfully full-spectrum offensive cyber operations. More than 20 countries, including NATO and non-NATO member states, participated in Crossed Swords 2023.

NATO CCDCOE has been organizing the exercise since 2016 and the first red teaming workshop was conducted in 2014. Starting in 2019, the exercise included a designated cyber command element in its training. CCDCOE-led exercises and research provide its member nations with a testbed for experimentation in cyber operations. Crossed Swords tests the capabilities and practices skills that participants would need when planning and executing a full-spectrum cyber operations, especially with elements from the other domains. The training audience includes not only cyber operators, but also digital forensic experts and command level specialists. Additionally, threat hunters experimental training was provided. The exercise is co-organized by the NATO CCDCOE and its partners. The exercise benefits considerably from having academia and industry partners in developing exercise.

NCL supported Cross Sword 2023 with an in house-built Operation Technology system that simulated a Rail system with multiple sensors and signals. Trains moved along virtual tracks lines with sensors and respond to the various signals in the virtual environment. Participant of the events needed to penetrate the outer protective IT infrastructure on order to read and understand the underlying signals and sensor information. The participants then need to use this information to disrupt the train’s normal operation.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GreyHats CTF 2023

The Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (YCEP) - Central Capture-the-Flag 2023

Critical Infrastructure Defence Exercise (CIDeX) 2023