Brasília (DF) – The Cyber Defense Command (ComDCiber) is participating in the Locked Shields 2024 (LS 24) exercise, from April 22 to 26. The event is organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (NATO CCDCOE), in cooperation with partners. In the 2024 edition, more than 3,500 professionals from 41 countries are participating remotely. It is one of the largest cyber defense exercises in the world.
The LS 24 Blue Team is divided into technical and strategic teams. The aim is to train them at various levels to react collaboratively to simulated attacks in cyberspace. Brazil is part of the Blue Team as a guest country. It works alongside Spain, Chile and Portugal. In all, six military personnel are representing the country in Lisbon, while another four are in Spain, in Madrid, from the Navy, Army and Air Force.
In Brazil, on Wednesday morning, at the ComDCiber facilities at the Marechal Rondon Fort, just over thirty military and civilian personnel formed a multidisciplinary team. They made up the strategic part of LS 24 in Brazil. This team was made up of members of the Institutional Security Office, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Health, the National Water Agency (ANA) and the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL). Together, they presented solutions to the problems suggested by the exercise organizers in Tallinn, Estonia.
This enabled the managers to present solutions to the problem situations presented in the context of a cyber crisis. In LS 24, both the technical and strategic teams were put to the real test in a simulated environment of cyber attacks on various strategic infrastructures, such as energy, transportation and telecommunications. The solutions presented are compiled and analyzed in the context of the exercise.
According to Vice-Admiral José Cláudio Oliveira Macedo, Deputy Head of the MD’s Operations Department, the country is a global player. This arouses the interest of other countries in our ability to operate in cyber defense as well. For him, it is important to take advantage of opportunities to improve our defense, since we are a continental and maritime country and we have expertise in bringing together different Brazilian actors and operating jointly in the defense of critical infrastructures.
For Ernesto Marcos Silveira, ANATEL’s regulatory specialist, participation in LS 24 is an opportunity to broaden knowledge in order to better regulate the bodies that are regulated by ANATEL. For Rebeca Crivelaro Campos, responsible for data security at ANA, the exercise helps the agency improve its resilience in the cyber environment and prepares it for crises by exchanging knowledge with other institutions.
Military diplomacy beyond LS 24
On April 22 and 23, the Cyber Commanders of Brazil and Portugal held a working meeting in Lisbon with the aim of identifying possibilities for bilateral cooperation and structuring a Memorandum of Understanding.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***