The world’s largest live-fire cyber defence exercise Locked Shields 2026, organised by NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, concluded on Friday, 24 April. The exercise brought together over 4,000 participants from 41 nations to practise protecting critical infrastructure and military systems against real-time cyberattacks.
“At Locked Shields, the teams must put their skills to the test, protecting the IT systems that keep our everyday life running—including critical infrastructure, air defence and e-voting. The teams demonstrated strong capabilities in detecting and responding to malicious cyber activities. The key now is to take the lessons identified from the exercise and translate them into real-world readiness, particularly as AI capabilities continue to transform both the defence and attack sides of the cyber domain,” said Tõnis Saar, Director of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.
The participating nations formed 16 multinational teams. The three highest-scoring joint teams of Locked Shields 2026 are:
- Latvia, Singapore
- Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland
- France, Sweden
“Our ultimate goal at Locked Shields is to enhance collaboration between nations, and build trust and a shared understanding of how to strengthen resilience in cyberspace,” said Dan Ungureanu, Exercise Director of Locked Shields 2026. “I thank all participants, organisers, and partners – nearly 5,000 people worldwide – for contributing to this shared goal.”
“As cyber threats continue to grow in complexity and scale, exercises like Locked Shields play an important role in helping us stay prepared. This year’s focus on crisis management and the protection of critical systems reflects the kind of challenges we increasingly face in reality. Estonia is proud to host this exercise and to bring together experts from across the Alliance,“ concluded Estonian Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.
Locked Shields has been organised annually by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) since 2010 in partnership with numerous industry and academic partners.