“The Developing Cyber Security Exercises for the Critical Actors of Emergency Supply” project implemented by Jamk and co-funded by the National Emergency Supply Agency, was designed to respond to the systematic development of cyber security exercises in sectors critical to security of supply to increase national resilience. Increasing cyber security competence and capabilities through training is part of securing the essential services, systems and infrastructure needed by Finns in everyday life and in exceptional circumstances.
“From the National Emergency Supply Agency's perspective, the project particularly addressed the growing need to strengthen stakeholders’ ability to operate in severe cyber incidents. The threat landscape has become more complex and cyberattacks are increasingly targeting critical services as well as the interdependencies between them”, says Tehi Palletvuori, Chief Preparedness Specialist at the National Emergency Supply Agency.
During the four-year project, the resilience of operators critical to the security of supply was increased through cyber exercises in the logistics, water supply and financial sectors.
Sector experts highlight the need for cyber exercises
The goal of the project was to enable continuous competence development and research and development activities related to cyber security. To this end, the RGCE cyber range of the JYVSECTEC (Jyväskylä Security Technology) research, development and training centre was expanded for the use of selected sectors critical to the security of supply. The result was a broader digital world that includes the corresponding technical environments that organizations in selected industries use in reality.
“The project involved extensive collaboration with companies and authorities operating in sectors critical to Finland’s security of supply. It also enabled the practical training of experts from different fields, so that organizations are able to protect their digital operating environment in cyber incidents and identify potential areas for development”, says Tero Kokkonen, Director of Jamk's Institute of Information Technology.
During the project, the environments were piloted in cyber exercises, where the organizations were able to test their own operating methods and guidelines for handling large-scale cyber incident situations.
“The exercises were tailored with sector-specific characteristics in mind, which increased their relevance and impact. Significant progress was made in the development of resilience. However, maintaining and developing capabilities requires continuous practice”, says Project Manager Antti Teppo at Jamk.
“The added value of the exercises for security of supply is created by the fact that capabilities can be trained in a technically authentic but safe environment. It enables the simulation of multi-stage and demanding attack entities in conditions where learning takes place without risk to real services, but still as close as possible to the real operating environment – with the people and tools that really fits in the overall picture”, says Ossi Heino, Preparedness Specialistat the National Emergency Supply Agency.
Based on the feedback surveys of the exercises, it can be said that the exercises developed the competence of the organizations with a grade of 3.8 when it was assessed on a scale of 1–4. For the question “I want my organization to participate in similar exercises in the future”, the answer was unanimous: all respondents (100%) chose the yes option. A total of 217 people responded to the feedback surveys of the exercises, and a total of more than 300 people participated in all three pilot exercises.
Cooperation is the key to development
In addition to expertise, cyber security requires cooperation among various actors, the public sector and the business community, which was also strengthened during the project.
“The actual development work in the project was carried out by Jamk, but a large number of company representatives from each sector gathered for the three sector-specific pilot exercises related to the project. The joint exercises enabled networking both between the companies and between the IT Institute and the companies. At the same time, companies were offered the opportunity to learn about our RDI activities and engage in collaborative discussion to plan possible new development projects in cooperation with us. In addition, I am pleased to say that the cooperation between the National Emergency Supply Agency and Jamk's IT Institute, which has already been successful, was further deepened with this project”, says Aimo Pellinen, RDI manager at Jamk's Institute of Information Technology.
The Developing Cyber Security Exercises for the Critical Actors of Emergency Supply (HTKK) project will be implemented from 1.8.2022 to 30.6.2026. The HTKK project is funded by the Digital Security 2030 Programme of the National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA) and the Jamk University of Applied Sciences.
Further information
Tero Kokkonen, Director, Institute of Information Technology, Jamk University of Applied Sciences
firstname.lastname@jamk.fi
p. 050 4385 317
Aimo Pellinen, R&D Manager, Institute of Information Technology, Jamk University of Applied Sciences
firstname.lastname@jamk.fi
p. 050 4080 189
Antti Teppo, Project Manager, Institute of Information Technology, Jamk University of Applied Sciences
firstname.lastname@jamk.fi
p. 050 5668 533
Tehi Palletvuori, Lead Preparedness Specialist, National Emergency Supply Agency
firstname.lastname@nesa.fi
p. 029 505 1032
