Cybersecurity

Expert: NATO cyber drill to mimic ISIS, Russian attacks

The massive cybersecurity drills held by NATO this week will mimic online attacks by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Russia, which is suspected of spying on the treaty organization for at least seven years, one expert said.

The exercise at NATO’s cyber defense center in Tallinn, Estonia, comes amid tensions between Russia and the alliance over NATO’s position that cyberattacks against its members could provoke military action.

{mosads}The drills will simulate real-world threats against NATO, Robert Pritchard, associate fellow at the U.K.’s Royal United Services Institute, told CNBC on Wednesday.

“NATO will be focusing on threats you might see from Russia and, I imagine, on threats from groups that support the Islamic state or extreme Islamist movements,” he said.

NATO has said its drills will be based on fictional threat scenarios, but will focus on vulnerabilities related to the migration from the Windows 8 to the Windows 10 operating system.

The Locked Shield exercises will involve 400 cybersecurity experts, and to experts, they highlight the growing threat of hackers against military institutions around the world.

Russian state-sponsored hackers are seen as a particular adversary for NATO and U.S. military interests, as well as the governments of former Soviet Bloc countries.