Exercise ‘Northern Bastion’, which took place in Helsinki on 29 and 30 August, brought together the central banks, finance ministries, financial supervisory authorities, and cyber defence centres of Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The Central Bank of Iceland and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats were also present as observers.
The simulation was based on a fictitious commercial bank operating in all the countries participating in the exercise. Because of its large market share, many people’s daily lives depended on the bank. First the bank was hit by cyber-attacks, and later by an attack on physical infrastructure, i.e. the exercise involved tackling the consequences of a hybrid attack.
The aim of the exercise was to strengthen the resilience of the financial sector against attacks. Operational continuity and crisis management procedures were played out, and national and international cooperation between different authorities and countries was also practised.
‘The exercise showed that Estonia has several solutions to cope with a situation where a bank providing vital services is disrupted. It also provided a good opportunity to play out the responsibilities and roles of RIA, Eesti Pank, and the Financial Supervision Authority in a defined scenario,’ said Gert Auväärt, Director of Cyber Security of RIA.
The exercise also provided a good opportunity to establish new contacts with other Nordic countries and the USA. ‘Other countries were very surprised and interested in Estonia’s cyber reserve and the possibility of its involvement in solving such crises,’ said Auväärt.
