The American newspaper Politico said that about 150 NATO cyber security experts gathered in an unidentified building in the heart of the Estonian capital this week to prepare for a cyber war.
The newspaper added that the war scenario “has become very realistic for the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and their allies since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
She added that the war “has forced Ukraine to defend against missile attacks and the constant attempts by Russian hackers to turn out the lights and make life more difficult for their besieged neighbours.”
On the impact of the conflict in Ukraine, Colonel Bernd Khansen, chief of the Cyberspace Branch at NATO Command, said, “There is an added level of seriousness, and it is no longer a fantasy. It has become very clear that these things (cyber wars) are happening in reality.”
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According to the American newspaper, NATO’s cyber forces are closely monitoring the war in Ukraine, with the aim of finding ways to help Ukraine and discovering ways to prevent Russia and other adversaries from penetrating the infrastructures of NATO member states and their allies.
The conflict in Ukraine has heightened the significance of NATO’s annual Coalition Cyber Exercise, in which more than 40 member states, allies and other organizations work together to respond to and recover from simulated cyber attacks on critical infrastructure such as power grids and ships.
The training was extended all over the world, with nearly 1,000 cyber professionals participating remotely from their countries.
The world has previously witnessed a comprehensive cyber war, in which cyber attacks are used that have a devastating effect that is no different from actual strikes, such as shutting down vital services such as energy and water and preventing their restoration, according to the American newspaper.
This year, cybersecurity officials and technical experts came to the Estonian capital, Tallinn, from Europe, the United States, and even Japan to respond to cyberattacks against the island of Icebergen, between Iceland and Norway.
On November 28, hackers launched a digital attack on the island in an attempt to steal intelligence and intellectual property, disrupt government services, and disrupt the power grid.
