NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (the Centre) and the Estonian Defence League (EDL) have signed an agreement to further strengthen the cooperation between the two organisations. The agreement formalises the already existing partnership with the Centre’s annual cyber defence exercise Locked Shields.
“Estonian Defence League and especially its Cyber Unit has been a good partner for the Centre for quite a few years now,” noted Colonel Artur Suzik, Director of the Centre. “They have been supporting our cyber defence exercises since 2010 and have been of great help to us so we are very glad to continue and deepen the cooperation with them.”
„Our mutual cooperation has been symbiotic and will extend even further now,“ said Andrus Padar, Chief of Estonian Defence League’s Cyber Unit. „Estonian Defence League has had a great opportunity to support the Centre with our experts manpower and the Centre helps our unit to develop technical skills of our cyber reserve volunteers via courses and seminars. Centre’s partner network is also a good channel for exporting Estonian good experience on how to integrate the volunteers into solving various cyber issues and improving cyber defence at the national level.“
Cooperation between the EDL and the Centre started in 2010 when the Centre organised the technical cyber defence exercise Baltic Cyber Shield. The cooperation continued with the annual technical exercise Locked Shields which was launched in 2012 and will be happening for the third time in 2014.
With the agreement the EDL confirms that it will continue supporting the exercise series by assigning number of people to be part both the planning and execution phases of Locked Shields 2014. The Centre on its side offers admission to its training and educational events to support the professional development of the EDL members.
Estonian Defence League is a part of the Defence Forces, a voluntary militarily organised national defence organisation operating in the area of government of the Ministry of Defence. The Cyber Unit’s mission is to protect Estonia’s high-tech way of life, including protection of information infrastructure and supporting broader objectives of national defence. The Cyber Unit includes specialists in key cyber security positions in national critical infrastructure, patriotic individuals with IT skills, including youth who are ready to contribute to cyber security, and specialists in other fields that concern cyber security (lawyers, economists etc).
NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence is an International Military Organisation located in Tallinn, Estonia. It is not an operational centre and does not fall within the NATO command structure; it is guided and financed by the nations participating in its work. Centre’s mission is to enhance the capability, cooperation and information sharing among NATO, its member nations and partners in cyber defence by virtue of education, research and development, lessons learned and consultation.