NATO allies practise co-ordinated response to cyber attack

From 7 to 11 April 2025 representatives from 20 NATO government and national agencies exercised the alliance’s ability to co-ordinate responses to significant malicious cyber activities affecting critical national infrastructures.

The exercise, organised by the Czech Republic, aimed to ensure that NATO’s Virtual Cyber Incident Support Capability (VCISC) mechanism can operate swiftly and smoothly.

Launched at the 2023 Vilnius Summit, the VCISC works as a clearing house for allied assistance in the event of a cyber attack. Through the VCISC, NATO facilitates assistance, linking those requesting support with designated counterparts in other allied countries and helping co-ordinate offers of support such as malware analysis, cyber threat intelligence and digital forensics. The aim is to help allies mitigate the impact of and recover from significant malicious activities. The initiative is led by NATO countries on a voluntary basis, using national assets.

Malicious cyber activities have been increasing over time, targeting, among others, critical infrastructure, industrial control systems and government services to disrupt societies, steal intelligence or impede military activities.

Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 highlighted the extent to which cyber warfare is now a part of modern conflict, both before and alongside kinetic hostilities.