During the past days, under the leadership of the Communication and Information systems (CIS) section of the General Staff, the members of the Army specialized in this field represented the Army with dignity at the NATO exercise “Cyber Coalition 2022”.
“Cyber Coalition” was an excellent opportunity for the members of the Army to demonstrate their knowledge, as well as to gain new knowledge, especially during the activities that simulate threats and cyber-attacks on the safety of the networks and information in the cyber space.
During the exercise, the training in various procedures was checked, but also, they carried out training to the personnel who perform tasks in the area of cyber defence in the Alliance for the NATO network infrastructure and the national network infrastructures.
The exercise was carried out with the physical presence of a team from Estonia, consisting of members of the NATO member countries, organizations of the Alliance, civilian organizations, as well as invited partner member countries.
Within the planned scenarios, the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia was an integral part of the Land Component Command – LCC under the leadership of Great Britain and participated with four teams on separate locations throughout the Republic that performed analysis and response to cyber incidents.
Different activities were carried out, such as: an attack on unclassified network infrastructure, computer forensics and analysis of malware, an attack on the network of one of the military critical infrastructure sectors, analysis of an infected network with a large number of IoT devices and digital forensics of “Wiperware” malware.
The main goal of the exercise is to increase the level of coordination and cooperation and to strengthen the ability of NATO and the allies to protect and defend the cyber space. The coordination and cooperation include the practice of the NATO and national procedures, including the best practical experience through exchange of information, review of the situation in the cyber space, advising and making decisions by the military personnel, as well as solutions and management of the civilian personnel in accordance with the national roles and responsibilities.
