Cyber Fortness illustration;
Credit: Luxembourg Army
The Luxembourg Army has reported that it carried our a Cyber Defence Exercise entitled “Cyber Fortress” 2025 on Friday 7 March 2025.
“Cyber Fortress” is the largest national cyber defence exercise in Luxembourg, allowing participants from different nations – Belgium, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta as well as the European Union Cyber Rapid Response Teams and Mutual Assistance in Cyber Security (CRRT) – and their armed forces to train their cybersecurity experts and improve their skills in defending computer systems against real-time attacks.
Since its launch in 2021, the annual “Cyber Fortress” exercise has continued to grow and evolve. Initially focused on technical aspects, it now features its own fictional and highly realistic scenario thanks to media injections, making it a practical and engaging experience for participants.
The exercise has also expanded to welcome the participation of other nations. Belgium, a key partner since the beginning, has participated in the exercise every year except one, which is a testament to the strong teamwork and cooperation between the two countries. This year, “Cyber Fortress” was further expanded with the parallel organisation of an event in Latvia. Around 100 participants joined a site in Latvia, simultaneously engaging in the exercise alongside their Luxembourg counterparts. In addition, members of the Luxembourg Defence Directorate and the Luxembourg Army as well as other partners and administrations, including the Judicial Police and the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, participated in the exercise. In order to allow participants to experience realistic cyber conflict scenarios, the “Luxembourg Cyber Range” platform was made available by the Defence Directorate.
The cyber defence exercise “Cyber Fortress” aims to test the interoperability between different teams and systems in a cyber crisis context. Participants are faced with a large number of cyberattacks in real time and must react as a team to coordinate their actions, manage processes and respond effectively to incidents. This exercise allows them to work together as in a real cyberattack situation, thus strengthening the ability to respond effectively to cybersecurity challenges while identifying possible improvements in incident management.
This year, one of the technological challenges for the speakers was the protection of IT services related to drone operations, subjected to simulated cyberattacks in real time. "Cyber Fortress" covers the technical, procedural and management aspects of IT services. New this year, it also integrates the dimension of strategic and media communication, with topics such as deepfakes, fake news and disinformation. “Cyber Fortress” is an interesting exercise for the military sector as well as for strategic partners from government, research and other fields, allowing them to acquire knowledge, to transmit it within their organizations and to exchange with other experts in the field of IT and cybersecurity.
