At the invitation of the Portuguese MoD, the CSU Lisbon Commander, LCDR Nelson Martins and CIS Security Officer, CPT João Martins, attended a course on Strategic Decision Making in the cyber security environment. The course took place at the Portuguese Defence Institute between 12 and 14 May 2014 and also included an exercise on Cyber Crisis Management.
The course was conducted in collaboration with the Estonian MoD. Besides national participants, there were entities from Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Czech Republic and other European countries and to include one representative from NCIRC Technical Centre.
The main subjects of the course were the Global View of the Cyberspace, Economy Technology and Security, Cyber Security and Cyber Defence. The last day was devoted to a Strategic Decision-Making Exercise. In this exercise, the group was divided into 4 working groups (WG), a Political/Governance WG, a Military/Intelligence WG, a Legal Advisory WG and an Industry WG.
The exercise simulated the management of a cyber crisis, where a fictitious Host Nation was being targeted by cyber activists. Incidents were given to the WGs that had to coordinate actions between them. No WG had the same information, so coordination was paramount for the Political/Governance WG to make informed decisions.
The content and dynamics of the course were much praised by all participants and it was an opportunity to see the different concerns and priorities from all groups. Also it was a great opportunity to show the NCI Agency flag and play a role in strategic decision-making.
A similar course is planned for next year.