On 1 June 2023, NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency Chief Information Officer Carol Macha participated in the 15th International Conference on Cyber Conflict, in Tallinn, Estonia.
The annual event, also known as CyCon, brings together over the course of four days, experts from the public and private sector, military and academia, to address and discuss the future of cyber conflicts and cyber security, considering all technical, legal, policy, strategy and military facets.
Carol Macha, the NCI Agency's Chief Information Officer, joined the conversation on the second day of the conference, alongside Christiane Kirketerp de Viron, Rear Adm. Giovanbattista Raimondi and Brig. Gen. Seán White, in the panel 'Military Cyber Defence under Review'. Experts discussed the need to improve cyberspace abilities within Europe, increase cooperation of military cyber defence structures and achieve interoperability and trust between entities and stakeholders.
Macha reiterated the importance of cyberspace as an indispensable domain of operations for NATO, shedding light on the potential risks and opportunities that emerging technologies bring in this heavily contested sphere. Cyber threats are complex, destructive and becoming ever more frequent, so it is crucial to work together to understand the environment in which cyber technology can be leveraged responsibly.
"NATO does not act in isolation but in a wider international cyber ecosystem. We seek opportunities to leverage synergies and amplify respective responses to malicious cyber activities to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts, whether at the international, regional or national level," said Carol Macha.
As NATO's cyber defender, the NCI Agency supports the Alliance by delivering secure IT and cyber security services across the NATO Enterprise to ensure a resilient environment. The Agency engages with Allies and industry on situational awareness of threats and responses to malicious cyber activities and provides continuous skills development and improving education, training and exercises at all levels to ensure staff skills are top-notch to enhance cyber defences.
The International Conference on Cyber Conflict is organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). To find out more about the 15th iteration of CyCon, click here.