25 March 2021

Over the last decade, the collection and sale of data has become a thriving sector. Some services no longer require any real payment in exchange for our personal information. For example, we often agree to connect our social media accounts filled with personal information to certain websites to use their services. This focus on data and information has found its way into the military. Virtual training and simulation are becoming standard practice within the military systems of European states. These produce large amounts of data, which can be analysed and used to optimise training and enhance operational capability. ‘Train as you fight and fight as you train’ is a mantra that can be put into practice more easily with virtual tools, as these tools allow land forces to train in situations that would not be suitable for live training, for example, training in urban areas.

The organisation of multinational exercises and the exchange of information between member states militaries have become more important. Last February, the European Defence Agency (EDA) organised a live exercise on cyber issues. The objective of the virtual exercise, which gathered more than 200 experts from 17 Member States of the EDA, was to ‘bring together military Computer Emergency Response Teams and observe incident management dynamics with a particular focus on information-sharing, a key factor in modern cyber defence.’ These CERTs can be found in most member states. They consist of a group of experts in cyber-security, who are responsible for identifying and responding to cybersecurity incidents and attacks. These experts may also form CSIRT, Computer Security Incident Response Teams, which have a similar task description to CERTs: preventing, detecting, and responding to cybersecurity incidents. Cyber-attacks within the military environment may have disastrous effects on national security. With this in mind, and considering their interconnectedness, European states held a joint exercise in February 2021, to prepare responses in the event of a cyber-attack. This is pressing since the exchange of information is less developed than in the civil domain. The exercise reveals two important military evolutions. Firstly, the relevance of virtual or remote exercises. As said before, virtual or remote exercises might have certain advantages over live, kinetic training. Secondly, the growing importance of cyber matters within the military. The military, like society as a whole, increasingly depends on technology and the internet. This can create vulnerabilities if internet infrastructure becomes the target of an attack.

This exercise organised by the EDA might create an incentive for future cooperation. In that regard, multinational exercises may become an important instrument in driving collaboration for future defence matters across the EU. The second stage of the exercise will be conducted later in 2021, and concerns the debriefing and discussion of the results.  Interestingly, this exercise was specifically designed for the military. A realistic environment was recreated, obliging states to cooperate as if a real-life cyber-attack was happening, while focusing at all times on the military aspect of the situation. This distinction between civil and military domains is due to the types of data utilised. Military systems demand confidentiality, and security measures are installed in their systems to protect certain types of data that might create vulnerabilities if shared. The result however is a limited exchange of information and therefore cooperation. A balance must be sought between these security issues and confidentiality on the one hand and cooperation and exchange of information on the other.

The EDA exercise is part of a larger movement towards more virtual cyber exercises. In November 2020, NATO organised a fully virtual cyber exercise. The current pandemic restrictions obliged the member states to seek alternatives to live training. It seems likely that NATO and the EDA will now realise that virtual training is a suitable alternative and has advantages compared to live training. The most obvious benefit of fully virtual training is the difference in cost. In general, live training is more costly than virtual training, as moving of the troops and the necessary material is not needed. Second, virtual training might enable land forces to train for scenarios that would be impossible or very costly to train for with traditional training. The most well-known example of that is urban areas. One could recreate an urban scenario, but the problem therewith is and will remain that it is impossible to recreate a busy city centre full of people and traffic. Next month Finabel will publish a study looking at new forms of training and simulation. As will be demonstrated, there are several reasons why training and simulation on a national level might encounter difficulties, followed by possible recommendations to overcome these.

The EDA exercise of February 2021 was pioneering when it comes to cooperation amongst EU member states, specifically for virtual training. Although instigated by the current pandemic, these kinds of exercises are now adequate replacements for live training. In the future, these exercises might become a fully-fledged alternative. Member states should take advantage of the current situation and include virtual exercises in their future framework, as the current multinational exercises have been seen to be working and have proven their benefits. The COVID-19 environment therefore might be the ideal testing ground, not to kickstart virtual training, but to profit from its proven benefits.

Written by Milan STORMS, Trainee Manager at Finabel – European Army Interoperability Centre

Sources

European Defence Agency, (2021). ‘Cyber defence exercise brings together military CERTs’.Available at: https://eda.europa.eu/news-and-events/news/2021/02/19/cyber-defence-exercise-brings-together-military-certs [Accessed: March 24, 2021]

NATO Communications and Information Agency,(2020). ‘NATO exercises cyber defence capabilities at Cyber Coalition’.Available at: https://www.ncia.nato.int/about-us/newsroom/nato-exercises-cyber-defence-capabilities-at-cyber-coalition.html[Accessed: March 24, 2021]

Sullivan, Peter. (2021) ‘Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)’ Available at: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/CERT-Computer-Emergency-Readiness-Team [Accessed: March 24, 2021]

European Defence Agency, (2019). ‘EDA’s growing role in cybersecurity’, European Defence Matters, no. 18 (November 2019): 31-32.  Available at: https://eda.europa.eu/webzine/issue18/focus/eda-s-growing-role-in-cybersecurity[Accessed: March 24, 2021]