NATO concluded its largest annual cyber defense exercise with over 700 participants, Cyber Coalition 2016, in Estonia on Friday.
The exercise features a simulated cyber attack with participants working together to identify the threat and mitigate its impact before it could spread across national systems. Participants tested and trained on how to share information about cyber incidents in a faster way and how to coordinate cyber defenses in case of attack.
The three-day event was the ninth edition of the exercise and the fourth time it was hosted by Estonia. Cyber Coalition uses the NATO Cyber Range, a platform for NATO exercises and training events in Tartu, Estonia. The country is also home to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), a NATO-accredited Tallinn, Estonia-based knowledge hub that focuses on interdisciplinary applied research and development concerning cyber security
Cyber Coalition 2016 participants included cyber defenders, legal experts, government officials, military officers, academics, and industry representatives. They participated from dozens of locations across NATO and partner nations. Europen Union cyber defense staff took part in the exercise along with representatives from non-NATO nations Algeria, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, and Switzerland.