The Spanish Chief of Staff inaugurates the Conference on Cyber Defense and Cybersecurity in Current Conflicts

• This is a day organized by the FEINDEF Foundation to promote and raise awareness of issues related to State Security and Defense.

The Chief of Defence Staff (SP CHOD), Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderón, today inaugurated the Conference on Cyberdefense and Cybersecurity in current conflicts organized by the FEINDEF Foundation in Madrid. The conference is part of the next Defense industry fair to be held at the end of May and has been presented by the president of the Foundation, Julián García Vargas.

In his opening speech, Admiral López Calderón addressed three key issues: cyberspace as a field, cyber operations in the Ukrainian conflict and how the Armed Forces are facing the challenges and threats they face in cyberspace.

The CHOD began by analyzing the current scenario in which digitalization has led to the emergence of new areas of confrontation such as cyberspace, outer space and cognitive space.

Admiral López Calderon also stated that "the world has been transformed by the digital era and this is characterized by three aspects: the democratization of information, globalization and hyper connectivity and the acceleration in the incorporation of technology". Extrapolating these premises to the conflict in Ukraine, Admiral Lopez Calderon reiterated that this "war is teaching us that there is not a civilian and a military cyberspace. There is only one cyberspace of interest for security, for defence, which guarantees the normal activity of the state and which, if attacked, not only affects in a transversal way the military operations themselves but also the very survival and resilience of a country and its citizens".

The CHOD also stressed that "just as we prepare ourselves in peacetime in the physical spheres to be able to face a possible military conflict in the best conditions, we must not neglect the preparation in the cybernetic sphere".

Admiral General López Calderón concluded his speech by underlining the role being played by the Joint Cyberspace Command to enhance the capabilities that will enable us to successfully face the threats coming from cyberspace. He also insisted that "in order to build this capacity, the action and drive of the Armed Forces alone is not enough; collaboration with other state bodies, with industry and with the academic world is necessary".

Rear Admiral Javier Roca Rivero, second in command of the Joint Cyberspace Command, also participated in this working day as a speaker. In his lecture he analysed the cyberspace operations in the Ukrainian War. This was followed by a round table on "Cybersecurity in the National Security System.

The ambassador on special mission for Cybersecurity, Nicolás Pascual de la Parte, was in charge of the closing of this day.