First Asian country to join NATO cyber defense group

Yonhap reported on May 5, Korea has become the first Asian member of NATO’s Center for Advanced Cyber ​​Defense Cooperation (CCDCOE) based in Tallinn, Estonia.

In a statement cited by Yonhap news agency, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it plans to “enhance our cyber responsiveness to world-class by increasing the number of staff Our team was sent to the center and expanded the scope of joint training.”

Korea’s accession to the CCDCOE has increased the center’s membership to 32 countries, of which 27 are NATO countries, known as patron countries. In addition to South Korea, there are four other non-NATO members.

According to the NIS, South Korea enrolled in the CCDCOE in 2019 and has participated in the center’s activities since then, including the Locked Shields cyber defense exercise for two consecutive years since 2020.

Commenting on Seoul’s involvement, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service noted that “cyber threats are causing great damage not only to individuals but also to separate and transnational countries.” countries”, which makes “close international cooperation” important.

Based in the Estonian capital Tallinn, CCDCOE was established in 2008 in response to a large-scale cyber attack in 2007 on Estonia’s state network – which the country’s authorities quickly dumped. sorry for Russia. However, officials in Tallinn later admitted that they had no convincing evidence to blame Moscow.

On its official website, the CCDCOE says the center’s mission is “to support NATO and member states in research, training and cyber defense exercises including technology focus areas, strategy, campaign and legislation”. The group pledged to “promote the cooperation of like-minded countries”, both “NATO allies and partners outside the alliance”.