Cadets of 4th and 5th year of Military Communication and Information Systems study program of Armed Forces Academy (AFA) of GEN. M. R. Stefanik participated in the international NATO cyber exercise "Locked Shields 2023", organized on April 11th – 21st 2023 by the Cooperative Center of Excellence for Cyber Defense (CCDCOE) in Tallinn. More than 3,000 participants from 38 NATO member countries and partner countries, divided into 24 teams, took part in the exercise.

Based on the structure of the exercise, the trainees were divided into several teams. The cadets of the Department of Informatics of AFA  were part of the Slovak "blue" team, where they performed tasks in various sections, such as services based on OS Linux and MS Windows, SIEM, help desk, network infrastructure, forensic analysis or special equipment of critical infrastructure. It was a great experience for all cadets to solve problems of real operation in a simulated environment.

During the exercise, the cadets applied their theoretical knowledge in practical cases and gained a lot of new information, knowledge and skills from experienced colleagues from various IT industries. The Slovak team, led by the Center for Cyber Defense of the Military Intelligence, managed to take a nice 8th place out of a total of 24 teams.