The Commander of the Joint Cyber Command gives a lecture on the Master’s in Cybersecurity at Carlos III University

•  Vice-Admiral Roca explained to students the work carried out by the Command to defend the rights and freedoms of all in the fifth domain

The Commander of the Joint Cyber Command (MCCE), Vice-Admiral Javier Roca, gave a lecture to students on the Master’s in Cybersecurity at Carlos III University in Madrid to explain the key aspects of protection in the fifth domain and the work carried out by the Command in this field, in defence of “our values, rights and freedoms”.

The head of the MCCE began his address by noting that “we are in a new era, where it is not the answers that change, but the questions we must ask ourselves”. This new paradigm, the Vice-Admiral emphasised, is characterised by hyperconnectivity, the availability of data and the acceleration of change, “where what used to take ten years now happens in one”.

Vice-Admiral Roca defined cyberspace “as the nervous system of society”, which “cannot function without secure access”. In this regard, he clarified that “cyberspace is not just ICT systems; it is everything that has connected digital components”.

The commander of the MCCE also outlined the institutional framework for cyberspace protection in Spain, specifically highlighting the Command’s remit in all cyber incidents that “affect national defence”. On this point, he emphasised that the main threat “lies in the vulnerabilities of cyberspace”, as reflected in the survey conducted by the Department of National Security (DSN).

The importance of people

With regard to military operations, he pointed out that cyberspace is the “only domain created by human beings”, unlike the other four: land, sea, air and space. In this regard, he emphasised that, despite technological advances, cyberspace is a ‘human-centric’ domain, in the defence of which “the most important thing is people and their values” and, consequently, “they are the weakest link”.

For this reason, he urged the students to become “Jedi knights and ladies” to defend cyberspace and stressed the need to adopt security measures on all their digital devices to protect access to their information.