Finland: Siltanews – News Desk
Finland is enhancing cybersecurity competence in its northern region. Municipalities and critical infrastructure operators recently participated in a cyber-exercise under state auspices. “We gained experience in dealing with many kinds of threats,” says Rovaniemi’s Chief Information Officer.
This year’s first national cyber exercise in Finland was recently concluded, the Finnish Ministry of Communications informed on Tuesday. This edition was targeted toward municipalities and critical infrastructure operators.
The participants included many cybersecurity, management and communications professionals from Northern Finland (the the administrative regions of Lapland, Kainuu and Northern Ostrobothnia).
“Almost 40 employees from the City of Rovaniemi attended the exercise, including senior management. Our service providers, ICT providers, and critical operators from water and electricity companies also joined in,” says Harri Ihalainen, Chief Information Officer in Rovaniemi, Lapland.
The national cyber exercises (KYHA) are organized by the Jyväskylä Security Technology (JYVSECTEC) center in collaboration with the Finnish Ministry of Communications. Finland’s Security Committee, which assists the government in matters pertaining to comprehensive security, also plays a guiding role in implementing the exercises.
The exercise environment is designed to stimulate an understanding of how cyber emergencies can impact their operations and cooperation with others. It also opens up insight into how the situations can be reflected in society and for the individual citizen.