The exercise, organized in the form of a tournament, is conducted by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) based in Estonia.

Partial results of the Locked Shields 24, the largest and most complex cyber defense exercise globally, were released on Friday. The Polish-Finnish team was among the three distinguished teams recognized by the organizer for achieving the best results. Also featured in the top three were the Estonia-France and Latvia-NATO teams.

Very proud that once again I could join the team defending Berylia during #LockedShields! Joint 🇵🇱🇫🇮 team under command of @CyberWojska did fantastic job finishing among top 3 teams in the exercise. Big thank you to all my teammates and congratulations to all the participants! pic.twitter.com/BfNcDH5pW6

— Kamil Bojarski 🌻 counterintelligence.pl (@Lawsecnet) April 26, 2024

Although the real goal of Locked Shields, as underscored by Colonel Lipczyński, is to test the actual skills of teams in a cyber warfare scenario, teams are still awaiting final results. “Each member of the team gave their all, and we are optimistic because before the official end of the exercise, we had a significant advantage over other teams,” Lipczyński conveyed. Asked about cooperation with Finland, the spokesperson replied: “Cooperation with Finland during Locked Shields was exemplary. We understood each other without words, and each team member gave their all and knew their role to play. We operated as one organism.”

“Exercises like Locked Shields also demonstrate that if necessary, we are able to quickly join forces and react to cyber threats together with allies,” he added.

In this year’s edition of the exercise, teams assumed the role of Rapid Response Teams. Their task was to defend the fictional state of Beryllium against massive attacks on information systems and critical infrastructure.

STARTEX! #LockedShields2024 has kicked off! Teams from 40+ nations dive into the world’s largest live-fire cyber defense drill. Best of luck to all as you face complex cyber challenges engineered by the Red Team! 🌍💪 pic.twitter.com/VD84ytKG2Y

— NATO CCDCOE (@ccdcoe) April 24, 2024

“Teams had to repel attacks in real-time on banking systems, power plants, satellite communication, 5G networks, cloud solutions, air defense systems, and industrial networks,” explained Lipczyński.

Led by a Cyber Defense Forces officer, the Polish-Finnish team consisted of experts from the public, private, and academic sectors. “The Polish team included representatives of the Polish Armed Forces, national-level CSIRTs, services, institutions, companies, and organizations critical to state security,” noted Colonel Lipczyński.