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Blockchain developers Guardtime to design next-generation NATO Cyber Range capability

The Estonian based security software company Guardtime has been awarded a contract by the Estonian Ministry of Defence and NATO, to design a next generation system, including a blockchain, to modernize the NATO Cyber Range defensive platform.

The Estonian based security software company Guardtime has been awarded a contract by the Estonian Ministry of Defence and NATO, to design a next generation system, including a blockchain, to modernize the NATO Cyber Range defensive platform.

The Cyber Range Capability is used for cyber defence training exercises, training and testing related activities. The hardware and software imitates computer networks and their data traffic, and the powerful ICT system has a unique set of characteristics.

While the Estonian cyber range is located in the Estonian Staff and Signal Battalion facilities and the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, the cyber range capability can be securely accessed remotely all around the world.

“It is possible to practice cyber-attacks and test the resistance of IT systems without hampering the live-systems.”
— – Republic of Estonia Ministry of Defence

Cyber warfare is now as central to national security as land, air and sea, explained Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid when he visited the Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence center in November. The Center focuses on interdisciplinary applied research, consultations, training and exercises in the field of cyber security.

The President’s visit followed the Warsaw Summit in July, where NATO decided to establish “an enhanced forward presence” in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Its aim is “to unambiguously demonstrate, as part of our overall posture, Allies’ solidarity, determination, and ability to act by triggering an immediate Allied response to any aggression.”

“The cyber field has clearly become Estonia’s niche capability and internationally recognised advantage. The decision by NATO to invest into the development of cyber range capability is yet another sign of trust and Estonia’s high level of cyber defence.”
— – Estonian Minister of Defence Hannes Hanso

NATO first used the Estonian national cyber range capability in 2013, during its annual exercise Cyber Coalition. The event proved to be a very successful way to meet NATO’s training needs in the cyber realm. Since that time, Allied Command Transformation (ACT) has been working to detail the requirements for a NATO Cyber Range capability taking into account an offer from the Government of Estonia early in 2016 to host a cyber range utilising their national capability.

Cyber Coalition is one of the world’s largest international cyber defence exercises, and the largest NATO cyber defence exercise. The cyber range also hosts Locked Shields, organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, and the Cyber Olympics, a cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and the Estonian Information Technology College, as well as number of different cyber defence training programmes.

The new range design will considerably enhance NATO’s cyber, electronic warfare and intelligence, test, rehearsal, and mission refinement capabilities and promote effective cooperation and collaboration of state of the art tools, techniques, and procedures to provide NATO range users with a credible capability and options for blue and red team planning activities.

“We will provide a state of the art flexible, operationally relevant and representative environment design that enables integrated simulation and training and collaboration for a wide variety of blue and red team cyber mission exercise areas, enabling NATO cyber range users the ability to securely collaborate and refine their tools and tactics.”
— – Martin Ruubel, President of Guardtime Estonia

Founded in 2007 in Tallinn, Estonia, Guardtime develops blockchain-based solutions for defense, healthcare, cybersecurity and physical supply chains. The country’s Minister of Defence, Hannes Hanso, called Guardtime “one of Estonia’s most innovative and internationally successful cyber defence and technology companies.”

Jay Maynard, Guardtime’s Cyber Range Operations Director, recently revealed that their work with the Estonian MoD and NATO will make, “a real difference into how NATO range users will prepare themselves – and prevail – in the face of todays complex cyber threat landscape.”

Guardtime began working with the Estonia Ministry of Defence (Mod) in November 2015, then the company signed a memorandum of cooperation to award four scholarships to master’s degree students studying cyber defense.

In March 2016 Guardtime became known as a blockchain provider when it partnered with the Estonian e-Health authority, an agreement that originated in 2011. “Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has repeatedly pointed out the biggest threat in cyberspace is integrity, and in particular the integrity of patient healthcare records,” explained Mike Gault, CEO of Guardtime.

Electronic patient records are a major component of the Estonian government’s services. Guardtime designed its blockchain technology specifically to create an immutable, “forensic-quality,” audit trail, where it will be impossible to change or hide information.

Guardtime’s healthcare blockchain was made to accelerate transparency, auditability, security, and governance for the lifecycle management of patient healthcare records in Estonia, which started out with over a million health records. Using a custom blockchain to ensure the data integrity, Guardtime offered the healthcare platform to Estonia, promoting its immutability with an emphasis on “real-time visibility.”

Identity and recordkeeping is another project that Gault has been working on. In an interview with Recode, Gault stated that blockchains, "could introduce a level of democracy and objective ‘truth’ to the digital world that even the physical world can’t match. Its promise involves a future in which no one has absolute power online, and no one can lie about past or current events.”


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