IRELAND has played a key role in the world’s largest cyber defence drill involving over 40 nations. The weeklong event, run by NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia, included more than 4000 experts worldwide. 2025 marked the 15th-year anniversary of the event.
Think before you click (Wikimedia Commons/Photo by mikemacmarketing)Over 200 cyber experts were hosted in Dublin in the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The exercise, known as Locked Shields, pits teams against each other in a war-gamed scenario. This tasks them with defending real-world computer systems from simulated attacks while documenting and reporting their findings. Academics, private tech and the Defence Forces joined those at the NCSC.
Those based in Dublin took on the role of a cyber rapid reaction team, deployed to aid a fictional nation dealing with a destabilising cyber incident. For this year, the number of systems that needed defending increased to over 8000, and the scenario expanded geographically to simulate cooperation across the Atlantic and Pacific theatres.
Although nominally a NATO exercise, seven non-NATO countries, including Ireland, took part, and Irish staff were present at the US command centre. Ireland has been militarily neutral since the Second World War; however, this has come under increasing debate since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan commended the Irish team and said, “This highlights the talent and level of dedication available within the broader cybersecurity sector in the country and is a testament to Ireland’s strength as a digital economy with vibrant cybersecurity skills.”
This cybersecurity defence exercise, the largest and most complex globally, offers crucial training for Western national security experts to stay current with evolving threats from international criminal organisations and hostile nation states.
Richard Browne, director of NCSC, said, “Our core mission is to protect the state against risks in the cyber domain, and we know from hard-earned experience that we face precisely the same risks and threats as our peers in this exercise.”
He went on to say, “Locked Shields gives us an opportunity to train, practise and compete with and against our peers and partners and, in doing so, to test our own skills, capabilities and procedures. To be able to defend the infrastructure, services and data that people in this country rely on, we need to be certain that we remain competitive in this environment and continually test ourselves against the best in the world.”
Brigadier General Brian Cleary highlighted the role of Defence Forces: “Building on our previous participation in Locked Shields, this year’s exercise marks an important step forward for the Defence Forces in strengthening Ireland’s national cyber defence through close collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre.”
In recent years, cybercrime has surged dramatically, with high-profile incidents such as the DarkBeam data breach, the Royal Mail ransomware attack, and the MOVEit data theft drawing widespread attention. These attacks have wide-ranging effects, disrupting everyday life for consumers – most notably in the recent turmoil faced by Marks and Spencer in Britain and Ireland. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that cybercrime will cost the global economy trillions by the end of the decade.
Ireland and Britain are both facing significant cyber threats. In 2022 a CWSI report showed 54% of Irish companies reported cyberattacks—the highest rate in Europe. Britain is the third most targeted country in the world, after the US and Ukraine. In 2023, nearly a quarter of all businesses and charities faced attacks. According to Allianz, cyberattacks have emerged as the foremost business risk in Britain for 2024 as well.
See More: Cyber Security, Defence, Jim O'Callaghan TD, NATO
