Trust is the best defence

This article was published in the Ergon Magazine SMART insights 2023. Order your free copy now.

Pierre Kilchenmann is part of the Armed Forces Command Support Organisation (AFCSO), and heads the Swiss Armed Forces’ Blue Team for the Locked Shields exercise. He is also Senior Cyber Security Expert at the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS). We spoke with him about Locked Shields and about leadership where the rigid military and agile cyber cultures meet.

How important is Locked Shields?

As one of the world’s most prominent cyber security exercises, it is incredibly important. It is the perfect opportunity to test an extreme scenario and to establish whether Switzerland would be prepared and functional in the event of a serious incident. In other words, whether our supplies would be sufficient and our people resources ready.

What is the appeal for you?

Working together in an international context towards a common goal makes the exercise extremely valuable and exciting. You get to know professionals from all sorts of fields, whether civilian, military or industrial, and you quickly have to establish a basis of trust with people you’ve never met before in your life. Security is primarily a matter of trust.

How has the exercise evolved over the years?

It used to have a more military focus. As digitalisation has advanced the technological element has gained in importance, because it is fundamental to critical infrastructures. That’s why we work closely with partners such as Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Swissgrid, who also simulate scenarios like these. We also train together so that we could provide each other with resource support if necessary. Failure to fine-tune things now would cost us valuable time in an emergency.

What are the biggest challenges with Locked Shields?

It is a multinational competition, so there is a bit of national pride at stake, but it centres on cooperation. The winner isn’t the nation with the best defence, but the one that best encourages collaboration with others. For example, if one country finds vulnerabilities, they could affect neighbouring states, so you bring them on board. Cyberspace is highly complex. You might be able to survive precarious situations on your own, but you’re unlikely to stabilise them without help.

What were the most important lessons from the 2022 exercise?

Efficient resource planning is always a sticking point, but of course there were also plenty of lessons at the strategic, operational and technical levels. Since the field is getting more and more complex, crisis communications are becoming increasingly important. Is national leadership sufficiently well informed about strategic and political factors that it can answer questions from the media? And can it simplify the cyber jargon so that everyone affected, including members of the public, understands it?

How are these lessons conveyed to stakeholders?

By involving our partners. In 2023 teams from Swissgrid and SBB will be taking part. It’s important to them not just to be familiar with the strategic and political level, but also to have first-hand experience of what happens in a serious incident.

What success did you enjoy the most?

It was when I realised that, in just three weeks, a bunch of wildly diverse individualists had coalesced into a harmonious, high-performance team. They all left their egos at home, and learned a huge amount from each other as a result. That was the most satisfying thing for me personally.

How do you achieve that?

Strict military-style leadership has its place, but only where necessary. Otherwise you have to adapt to the cyber culture and mindset. It’s like being in a special operations team. Although you have anticipated and advancetested every move down to the minutest detail, reality is always going to throw up new challenges. In the infinity that is cyberspace, it will never be possible to plan every detail. That’s why you have to keep moving