In addition to R&D, cyber exercises are at the heart of what iTrust does to advance the knowledge in the security and defence of critical infrastrcutures (CI). The Critical Infrastructure Security Showdown (CISS) is iTrust’s signature annual operational technology (OT) cyber exercise and aims to uncover tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) employed by attackers. In doing so, those involved in the security of CI – from researchers to owners and operators – can validate and assess the effectiveness of OT defence technologies, and develop and improve capabilities for defending CI.
iTrust also supports local and international cyber exercises through the provision of its world-class CI testbeds and in-house developed digital twins as platforms for the organisers to train their target audience. Locally, iTrust supports Digital Intelligence Service’s annual Critical Infrastructure Defence Exercise (CIDeX) to train CI regulators and operators in the defence of CI. Internationally, iTrust has provided its digital twins to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence as special systems at its Locked Shields Exercise.