The news was published last June 15 on the CCDCOE website. The official announcement was made during a visit by the Prime Minister of Romania, Ms Viorica Dăncilă, to Estonia. During the meeting it was said that Romania will take part in the activities of the CCDCOE as early as next year. The director of the CCDCOE, Ms Merle Maigre, thanked the prime minister for the expressed intention.
The CCDCOE is currently a NATO accredited research, training and practice facility in the field of cyber defense. The CCDCOE examines not only the aspects related to technology but also everything related to strategic and operational as well as legal aspects, to remember that the Tallin Manual 2.0 is without a doubt the most complete manual relating to the application of International Law to cyber operations.
Every year the most complex exercise is held at the CCDCOE cyber defense in the world (Locked Shield) as well as the international conference on cyber conflicts (Cycon) which brings together the leading cyber experts in the world (the last conference was held from 30 May to 1 June 2018).
The center is funded and powered by 21 nations: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States of America.
After the news some brief considerations:
- It seems that the European countries (and others) are taking more and more to heart everything that has to do with the cyber defense, an index of heightened sensitivity to the now global problem;
- for once it seems clear to everyone that the union is strength and the CCDCOE is concentrating its European resources in a single center of expertise. This is an advantage on the one hand but also a disadvantage, in fact it will be necessary to find mechanisms that incentivize the personnel who are trained to stay in Europe. If in Italy the demand for staff with certain skills is still weak, this does not apply to the United States;
- in Italy it is still not clear (or perhaps not public) the process put in place to "improve from experiences". Over the years, Italy has participated in international exercises but there have been no public returns so it is at least difficult to understand what the level of preparation of the participating Italian personnel is;
- Italy does not have a real IT industry and the concepts of cyber security the process of planning operations are still little known cyber (defense and attack). This means that in the real case the staff able to participate in operations with other States is presumably numerically reduced;
- last but not least, it will be necessary to start making considerations on the expansion of CCDCOE sooner or later. The risk is, as usual, that a similar structure, if it makes sense when the participating countries are more or less at the same level and have clear shared objectives, lose meaning and utility when the expansion happens too quickly and without clear objectives . We will see what the future holds.
In any case, I feel, for once, that I can consider the glass half full. In fact, it is undoubted that in recent years huge steps have been taken, especially in the field of awareness. Now every day they hear discuss issues related in some way to the cyber security. But now is the time to make a further effort, perhaps starting to introduce in schools of all types and degrees the tools and skills needed to live and operate in an increasingly interconnected world, where the size of the Cyber space plays an undeniably important role.
To learn more:
- https://ccdcoe.org/romania-join-nato-cooperative-cyber-defence-centre-ex...
- https://ccdcoe.org/cycon/
(photo: CCDCOE, Arno Mikkor)
