NATO’s largest cyber defence exercise, Cyber Coalition 2016, wrapped up in Estonia on Friday (2 December 2016).

The three-day event attracted more than 700 cyber defenders and legal experts, government officials and military officers, academics and industry representatives, participating from dozens of locations across the Alliance and partner nations. Cyber defence staff from the European Union took part, as did representatives from partners Algeria, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Japan and Sweden.

The exercise featured a simulated cyber-attack, where participants worked together to identify the threat and mitigate the impact before it could spread across national systems. The participants tested and trained how to share information about cyber incidents in a rapid and efficient way, and how to coordinate their cyber defences in case of an attack.

Reflecting its growing prominence on NATO’s agenda, cyber defence is part of many of NATO’s exercises. The Alliance also conducts cyber-specific exercises, like Cyber Coalition, which test and train cyber defenders to respond to cyber challenges through realistic defensive exercises in a virtual environment.

This was the ninth edition of Cyber Coalition, and the fourth time the exercise was hosted by NATO Ally Estonia. Cyber Coalition makes use of the NATO Cyber Range, a platform for NATO exercises and training events located in Tartu, Estonia.