Locked Shields 2026, the exercise proving the West can still defend itself

Introduction: when 41 nations rehearse the invisible war

An exercise, a demonstration of collective strength

Some news doesn't make the evening headlines, but it should. Locked Shields 2026, organized by NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, brought together more than 4,000 participants from 41 nations this year. It is, quite simply, the largest real-world cyber defense exercise in the world, and it just took place almost unnoticed by the general media.

Over two intensive days, these 41 nations together faced roughly 8,000 simulated cyberattacks against a fictional nation named Berylia. The goal was anything but theoretical: to test, under near-real conditions, the ability of the West and its partners to defend critical infrastructure against massive, coordinated attack scenarios.

Why this kind of exercise deserves our attention

We talk a lot about tanks, planes, and missiles when discussing Western defense. We talk far less about cyberwarfare, even though it is just as decisive in modern conflicts. What Locked Shields 2026 demonstrates is that the Atlantic Alliance and its partners are taking this dimension seriously, with resources that match the threat.

At a time when Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea keep expanding their offensive digital capabilities, this kind of collective preparation is not a luxury. It is a top-order strategic necessity for the security of our essential infrastructure.

Berylia, the fictional stage for a very real threat

A scenario designed to mirror reality

The concept of Berylia is nothing like a video game. This fictional nation has served for several editions as a framework for simulating attacks on real systems: power grids, 5G telecommunications infrastructure, satellite systems, and military combat management platforms. This year, a major addition was included: a simulated electoral system, a potential target for digital manipulation.

Adding this electoral component is no small matter. It reflects a growing concern among Western security services over interference attempts targeting democratic processes, a phenomenon repeatedly documented in recent years across several NATO member countries.

Targets that touch everyday life

What stands out in the list of simulated targets is how extremely concrete they are. A paralyzed power grid is not a technical abstraction: it means hospitals, homes, and transportation systems grinding to a halt. An attack on satellites or 5G systems means the potential paralysis of essential communications during a crisis.

It is precisely this tangible dimension that gives Locked Shields its meaning: preparing defenders for scenarios that, tomorrow, might no longer be fictional at all.

The 2026 podium: who defended Berylia best

The Latvian-Singaporean duo on top

On the competitive side, the 2026 edition crowned the joint team of Latvia and Singapore as the exercise's grand winner. This partnership, between a Baltic country directly exposed along the Russian border and an Asian city-state renowned for its technological excellence, perfectly illustrates the spirit of international cooperation the exercise seeks to cultivate.

Second place went to the combined team of Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, while third place crowned the France-Sweden duo. These rankings are not merely symbolic trophies: they reflect real digital defense capabilities assessed under pressure, in near-real conditions.

Sixteen multinational teams mobilized

In total, 16 multinational blue teams took part in this edition, each made up of specialists from several countries working together under pressure to defend Berylia's simulated systems. This multinational structure forces participants to collaborate across the usual linguistic and institutional boundaries, a coordination exercise nearly as valuable as the technical skill itself.

This ability to work together, under the direction of exercise director Dan Ungureanu, may well be the true added value of Locked Shields: turning isolated national experts into a genuinely collective defense force.

Estonia, the strategic host of a clear message

Tallinn, the symbolic capital of cyber defense

Choosing Tallinn as the seat of the CCDCOE and host of Locked Shields is no geographic accident. Estonia was, as early as 2007, the target of one of the first documented massive cyberattacks against a state, a founding episode that pushed this small Baltic country to become a world leader in cyber defense.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur personally welcomed the 2026 edition, a gesture underlining the political importance this country places on the issue, well beyond the purely technical dimension of the exercise.

A message sent to authoritarian neighbors

By hosting an exercise of this scale, Estonia sends a clear signal to its neighbors, particularly Russia: a country's small size does not prevent it from becoming a globally recognized hub of strategic excellence. It is a lesson in resilience worth highlighting in the current geopolitical context.

This Estonian positioning also illustrates the strength of the Western model: rather than passively enduring the threat, NATO member countries choose to invest massively in collective preparation and shared expertise among allies.

Why this exercise matters for Western security

A concrete answer to documented threats

Western intelligence services have documented for years digital intrusion attempts attributed to Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean state actors against critical infrastructure in Europe and North America. Locked Shields is therefore not an academic exercise disconnected from reality: it is a direct response to a persistent, documented threat.

The multinational nature of the exercise also allows for testing interoperability between different countries' defense systems, a crucial issue since modern cyberattacks obviously respect no national border.

Investing in preparation rather than regret

This kind of exercise is expensive, mobilizes considerable human resources, and requires complex logistical coordination among 41 nations. But the cost of being unprepared, in the event of a real attack against critical infrastructure, would be incomparably higher, both in human and economic terms.

It's a simple logic that many Western decision-makers have come to accept: better to invest massively in collective prevention than to discover the full extent of one's digital vulnerabilities in the middle of a real crisis.

What this says about the West's current posture

A deterrence no longer limited to conventional weapons

For a long time, Western deterrence focused almost exclusively on conventional and nuclear military capabilities. Locked Shields 2026 illustrates a major shift: cyber defense is becoming a full-fledged pillar of collective security posture, on par with tanks or fighter jets.

This shift reflects a clear-eyed reading of contemporary conflict, where the opening salvos of a major confrontation could well be digital before they are kinetic, targeting critical infrastructure even before any conventional armed clash.

A signal sent to Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang

By multiplying exercises of this scale, the West sends a clear deterrence message to regimes that might be tempted by massive cyberattacks: collective preparation makes such attacks far more costly and far less likely to succeed without an immediate coordinated response.

This is exactly the kind of strategic firmness that deserves to be applauded, without reservation, in a geopolitical context where Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and where China, Iran, and North Korea remain persistent threats to Western security.

The limits of an exercise, even a successful one

Simulating is not living through a real attack

It would be naive to believe that an exercise, even one as impressive as Locked Shields 2026, guarantees total protection against a real attack. Simulated scenarios, however realistic, never perfectly reproduce the pressure, uncertainty, and chaos of a genuine crisis hitting critical infrastructure in real time.

Cybersecurity experts themselves regularly acknowledge this limit: preparation reduces vulnerability, but never eliminates it entirely against adversaries who are also constantly evolving their attack methods.

A permanent race against evolving adversaries

Cyber defense is never a finished achievement. Attack techniques constantly evolve, meaning exercises like Locked Shields will themselves need to keep evolving, year after year, to stay relevant against adversaries who never stop innovating in their offensive methods.

It's a race with no definitive finish line, but that is precisely why the regularity and scale of this annual exercise matter so much for long-term Western collective security.

The role of Canada and North American partners

A discreet but real presence

While Europe remains at the center of Locked Shields, North American partners, including units of the U.S. National Guard, actively participate in related exercises like Cyber Endeavor, which strengthen ties between European and North American allies on cyber defense issues. This transatlantic cooperation remains an essential pillar of the collective Western defense strategy.

Canada, long engaged within NATO structures, directly benefits from this kind of exercise through the sharing of knowledge and best practices among allies, even when its direct participation remains more discreet than that of some frontline European partners.

A transatlantic solidarity that must strengthen

Facing threats that recognize no geographic border, it would be desirable for North American participation in this kind of exercise to keep intensifying in future editions. Western cyber defense becomes more effective each time more allied countries, on both sides of the Atlantic, actively take part and share their lessons learned.

This is an area where North American and European solidarity should keep tightening, rather than remaining a mere juxtaposition of parallel, insufficiently coordinated national efforts.

Conclusion: a demonstration of resilience worth applauding

What 41 nations just proved together

By bringing together more than 4,000 experts from 41 nations around a single exercise, Locked Shields 2026 demonstrates something essential: the West and its partners are not passively waiting for the next major digital crisis. They are actively, collectively preparing for it, with a seriousness that deserves greater public recognition.

In a world where Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea represent persistent threats, this ability to mobilize so many countries around a shared digital defense goal is a legitimate source of confidence for the future of Western security.

An exercise to watch, year after year

Future editions of Locked Shields will need to keep being watched to gauge how threats and the responses from this international coalition of digital defenders evolve. But the 2026 edition, with its record scale, already sends a reassuring message about the state of our democracies' collective preparation against contemporary cyber threats.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

Who I am and my acknowledged biases

I am a columnist for MadMax, not a cybersecurity expert or a trained military analyst. My analysis relies on official CCDCOE statements and specialized reporting on digital security. I carry an acknowledged bias favorable to Western cooperation on defense, including its digital dimension.

I claim no deep technical expertise on the precise protocols tested during the exercise. My role is to make the strategic importance of this event accessible and understandable for a non-specialized audience.

What I don't know

I don't know the full technical details of the simulated attack scenarios, part of that information remaining confidential for obvious operational security reasons. Nor can I guarantee that the preparedness demonstrated during this exercise will automatically translate into effective protection against a future real attack.

Sources

Primary sources

CCDCOE — World's largest cyber defence exercise Locked Shields kicks off in Tallinn — April 2026

CCDCOE — Locked Shields, official exercise overview

SecurityWeek — Locked Shields 2026: 41 nations strengthen cyber resilience in world's biggest exercise — April 2026

Secondary sources

Estonian Defence Forces — Largest NATO cyber defence exercise concludes in Estonia — April 2026

U.S. Army — National Guard, European partners participate in Cyber Endeavor 2026

NATO CCDCOE — official post on Locked Shields 2026