The Joint Cyberspace Command welcomes the members of the Spanish team that will participate in the 'Locked Shield 2023'

• The MCCE will lead the Spanish team, which is composed of both military and civilian personnel

On Tuesday 18 April, the most demanding and complicated 'live-fire' exercise in the field of cyberspace in the world will begin. During the 'Locked Shield' exercise, two simulated countries will face each other, one as the attacker and the other as the defender, trying to protect their own critical infrastructure while at the same time trying to nullify the enemy infrastructure.

Spain, a founding partner of the CDCCOE, has participated in successive editions since 2010 and is taking part in this year's exercise with a team made up of civilian and military personnel; a total of 160 people working in coordination, highlighting the joint and wide-ranging nature of cyber defence.

The context of the exercise is that of an active, open conflict in the grey zone using hybrid warfare techniques, which takes place in real time between two technical teams: a defence team (Blue Team - BT) and an attack team (Red Team - RT). The BT represents an alliance of countries that make up a hypothetical international organisation and provide assistance to a fictitious country, a member of this organisation, to guarantee the defence of its computer systems against cyber-attacks perpetrated persistently by the RT.

Major General Rafael García Hernández, Commander of the MCCE, welcomed the members of the Spanish team, highlighting two of the main ideas are: firstly, cooperation to team up, to collaborate and coordinate in order to face challenges effectively and, secondly, to put a face to the person who will be on the other side of the keyboard when we have to face a real problem, contributing to the creation of a national community that will last over time.

Bearing in mind that the results achieved by the Spanish team last year were not the desired ones, the lessons learned have been taken into account in order to undertake new approaches and reach a much higher level of achievement. With a critical spirit and a humble spirit but always with vigour and will to win, our team is preparing to face the difficult challenges of 'Locked Shields 23'.

Led by the MCCE and with the support of the Spanish Army, Air Force, Space Army and Navy, the national team also includes personnel from the National Police and Civil Guard, technicians from the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE), the Spanish Defence Systems Engineering (ISDEFE), personnel from the Department of National Security (DSN) and the Cybersecurity Coordination Office (OCC) of the Ministry of the Interior, the Bank of Spain and the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid. The responsibility for keeping our networks secure does not only correspond to the public sphere and, therefore, we have professionals from various technology companies, such as Telefonica, Siemens, Indra, Iberdrola, CAJAMAR, Andersen Consulting, Cipher; Check Point, Fortinet, S2 Group, Titanium or LLYC (Llorente y Cuenca), and also with staff from the academic world, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of Murcia.

More than 2,600 participants from 38 countries, divided into 24 teams (BT) with an average of 50 experts each, defend the systems of a State against attacks by a group of hackers (RT), who will try to destroy the morale of the country, constantly attacking the banking system, energy distribution systems, command and control systems of the Armed Forces, critical infrastructures, telecommunications elements and everything that makes up our western and developed societies.