With the objective of developing military and civilian cyber defense capabilities, Chile and Brazil held the first binational Cyber Shield exercise in Santiago, August 7-9. The exercise, organized by the Chilean Joint Chiefs of Staff (EMCO), was carried out at the Army War Academy.
“The novelty this year is Cyber Shield, which was planned in 2023, and which in practice made it possible for three days in a row to carry out a simulation exercise of real events,” Guillermo Holzmann, defense analyst and academic at the University of Valparaíso, Chile, told Diálogo on September 23. “During the training, the military and civilian personnel put into operation capabilities that both countries have developed, to compare procedures and best practices that they have been building and perfecting.”
Sixty-five service members from EMCO, the Chilean Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as members of Chile’s Interior and Public Security ministries, and the Brazilian Cyber Defense Command took part in Cyber Shield. During the exercise, participants faced different scenarios and incidents for which they had to develop a series of action to respond to a cyber crisis, the EMCO said via Facebook.
The activity, the Chilean Army said, gained traction after the entry into force in April of the new Cybersecurity Framework Law in Chile. Among other points, this law creates the National Cybersecurity Agency, the cyber security governing body, which will dictate protocols and standards to prevent, report, and address cybersecurity incidents or cyberattacks.
Cyber Shield was developed in two simultaneous phases: a constructive simulation, where cybersecurity incident response teams from both countries interacted in simulated cyberattacks, and a technical work phase.
“The growing sophistication of digital threats leads us to consider this technology as a strategic pillar, to ensure the sovereignty and security of our country,” said Chile’s Under Secretary of Defense Ricardo Montero, at the start of the exercise. “It also leads us to commit to a coordinated and robust response to these types of threats.”
“Cyber Shield is a concrete manifestation of the Chile-Brazil cooperation. Its objective is to share procedures, good practices, and experiences in military operations in cyberspace,” Montero added. “In this event, we have the opportunity to strengthen our technical and tactical capabilities, but also to strengthen our bilateral cooperation ties.”
Brazil and Chile are very frequent targets of cyberattacks, including malware infections, ransomware, and phishing, Holzmann said. According to a Chile’s Nacional Telecommunications Company (Entel) report, Chile was the fourth country in Latin America with the most cyberattacks in 2023. Brazil held first place, the report added.
“In the cyber context, cooperation is key,” Brazilian Army Lieutenant Colonel Marcio Andrei Stein of the Communications and Electronic Warfare Command (CCOMGEX), said in a statement. “That’s why we are here in Chile, to strengthen our ties of friendship and develop our capabilities in the area.”
Both countries have been active in cyber defense. In August, the Chilean Army inaugurated in Santiago the Cyber Defense Laboratory for Critical Infrastructure Protection, in collaboration with the Innovation Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, which strengthens the defense of critical infrastructures, as a space for public-private collaboration.
In its first phases, the laboratory will focus on eight pilot programs set for the second half of 2024. These projects include cyber defense and ransomware simulations, monitoring of indicators of compromise, and sampling with emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, Chilean news site El Mercurio reported on August 5.
For its part, the Brazilian Cyber Defense Command continues to be active in various trainings. For instance, in April, it participated in exercise Locked Shields 2024, one of the best cyber defense trainings in the world, organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence. On that occasion, more than 3,500 professionals from 41 countries participated, operating remotely.
“A new edition of Cyber Shield was proposed for 2026, incorporating private sector entities, due to the obvious convergence of interests between the two and the amount of data handled,” Holzmann concluded. “For this, there are obviously going to be needs for legislative adequacy, so that there is effectively a regulation that is compatible between both countries, and probably among other countries that are also being considered in the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union.”
