• June 13, 2024

Albania joins Hybrid CoE – completing the participation of all EU and NATO countries

On 13 June, the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats had the pleasure of welcoming Mr Igli Hasani, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania. Mr Hasani visited the Centre to hand over the Letter of Notification to Director Teija Tiilikainen, officially making Albania the 36th Participating State of Hybrid CoE and completing the participation of all EU and NATO countries in the Centre’s activities.

“On behalf of Hybrid CoE, I would like to welcome Albania to the Centre. Albania will add a very important geopolitical component to our knowledge base and help the Centre fulfil its mandate in countering hybrid threats,” Director Teija Tiilikainen stated. “Thanks to Albania’s accession, Hybrid CoE now encompasses all EU and NATO members, which is a great achievement and signals the willingness of the Euro-Atlantic community to counter hybrid threats in a strongly united manner.”

“We are delighted to join Hybrid CoE, which now includes all NATO Allies and EU member states. This signifies a very important step forward for Albania, and we are keen to contribute to the Centre’s vital mission,” Minister Hasani said. “We bring a spirit of collaboration and a thirst for knowledge, ready to learn from the vast experience of other Participating States and to share our own insights. Together, we can build a more secure and resilient future, not just for Albania, but for the entire Euro-Atlantic region.”

In addition to Albania, the Centre of Excellence includes the following Participating States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Centre cooperates closely with the EU and NATO.

  • June 11, 2024

Ukrainian professors trained on the use of game-based methods for countering hybrid threats

Hybrid CoE and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) delivered a train-the-trainer course to Ukrainian universities on the use of game-based methods for training and foresight in countering hybrid threats. The course was part of the Erasmus+ project “Academic Response to Hybrid Threats” (WARN), coordinated by the University of Jyväskylä and hosted by ECAM-EPMI (Graduate School of Electrical Engineering) in Cergy, France, from 14 to16 May, 2024.

During the course, 23 professors from Ukrainian universities were trained to design dilemma and matrix games for professional use. These games were applied to complex decision-making scenarios on countering hybrid threats. The course focused on current and future vulnerabilities in Ukrainian society, the ways in which these vulnerabilities could be exploited by Russia, and how to counter such exploitation. Vulnerabilities that could be targeted during Ukraine’s path to EU membership were a central theme during the course.

  • June 3, 2024

Martha Turnbull appointed Director of Community of Interest on Hybrid Influence

Martha Turnbull took up the position of Director of the Community of Interest on Hybrid Influence (COI HI) at Hybrid CoE on 29 May 2024.

“Martha’s broad expertise on hybrid threat-related issues will strengthen Hybrid CoE’s knowledge base, and I am very happy to welcome her to lead COI HI,” said Director Teija Tiilikainen. “I also very much look forward to working with her in the Centre’s leadership, as Martha will be joining the executive team.”

Martha is a career diplomat in the UK Foreign Service and has spent the past 15 years working on various national security issues, including hybrid threats and counter-terrorism. She was previously posted to Abu Dhabi as the Gulf Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, responsible for overseeing the UK’s counter-terrorism support to five Gulf States. More recently, Martha has been based in London as one of the Deputy Heads of the State Threats Unit, with responsibility for analysis, data, and open source reporting.

“I’m delighted to take up this role and to promote the UK’s ongoing support for the Centre. The threats we face continue to evolve, so the Centre’s work is vital in order to share understanding and promote best practice. I look forward to working with all the Participating States over the course of my posting,” Martha commented. 

Hybrid CoE’s mission is to strengthen its Participating States’ security by providing expertise and training for countering hybrid threats, and by enhancing EU-NATO cooperation in this respect. The Centre is an autonomous hub for practitioners and experts, located in Helsinki, Finland.

  • April 25, 2024

The sixth Cyber Power Symposium discussed the use of cyber-related technologies, such as AI, to gain cognitive superiority

The sixth Cyber Power Symposium on Hybrid Conflict and Warfare (CPH), organized by HybridCoE, took place on 23 April. This year’s online symposium focused on the use of cyber-related technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to achieve cognitive superiority. Experts from 33 Hybrid CoE Participating States, as well as representatives from the EU, NATO, Australia, Japan, Ukraine, Liechtenstein, South Korea, New Zealand, and Switzerland, participated in the event.

The symposium focused on several key issues:

  1. Cognitive warfare and superiority: The primary goal of cognitive warfare lies in gaining cognitive superiority, which relies on access to information, pervasive surveillance, personalized persuasion, and new technologies.
  2. Authoritarian strategic culture and digital tools: Authoritarian states, revisionist powers, rogue states, and non-state networks leverage authoritarian strategic culture thinking. They combine this mindset with digital tools enabled by new platforms, networks, and speed. The need for new regulations in this context was also emphasized.
  3. Artificial intelligence (AI) in cognitive warfare: The development of AI technologies is central to the ongoing cognitivewarfarearmsrace. AI can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes. As AI continues to evolve, it will require continuous investigation, moral considerations, and policy adjustments. During the discussions, it was highlighted that ransomware attacks are expected to surge in both volume and impact over the next two years due to advancements in AI technologies.
  4. Threats to democracies: Lastly, there is an urgent need to understand how democracies are threatened in this landscape. As we navigate the intersection of technology, security, and information, safeguarding democratic values becomes crucial.

In summary, the symposium underscored the critical role of AI in shaping cognitive warfare and highlighted the challenges facing democracies in this complex environment.

source: Sergey Tinyakov / shutterstock.com
  • March 19, 2024

Looking to secure elections? Strengthen cyber defences and provide information security training for citizens and politicians alike

In this super election year, disinformation and cyberattacks pose the most imminent threats to upcoming elections in Europe. Over the long term, however, election interference from abroad is more likely to take place through voter manipulation than through direct attacks on the electoral system.

These are two of the most important lessons learned from Hybrid CoE’s recent work studying election interference and ways to prevent it.

“European officials should prioritize strengthening cybersecurity defences for electoral systems, enhancing public awareness campaigns to combat disinformation, and building capacity to identify and counter disinformation-fuelled threats and violence in the physical domain,” writes election security expert Sebastian Bay in Hybrid CoE’s latest piece of research on countering election interference.

To help governments secure elections against hybrid threats, Bay outlines a framework that consists of nine key actions for governments to take:

  1. putting together a robust and evolving legal framework;
  2. identifying and assessing risks and vulnerabilities in the electoral system;
  3. enhancing the resilience of the electoral system;
  4. combatting the effects of electoral information influence activities by communicating and training;
  5. establishing effective cooperation among various authorities and entities;
  6. conducting exercises to test and evaluate the effectiveness of existing security measures and responses;
  7. establishing incident reporting, early warning, and detection mechanisms;
  8. responding to threats through a collaborative approach; and,
  9. should any threats materialize, restoring normalcy to the election process by addressing and rectifying the immediate impacts of the threats or attacks.

In another cornerstone of Hybrid CoE’s counter-election interference work, researcher Veronika Krátka Špalková and analyst Andrej Poleščuk point out that foreign election interference usually occurs at the level of long-term manipulation of citizens. Thus, protective measures should focus on the overall resilience of the population to foreign influence.

Špalková and Poleščuk recommend that states put effort into cyber and information security training for citizens, as well as advanced and specialized cybersecurity training for political candidates, politicians, and political parties. Finally, they recommend fundamental legislative and systemic changes to secure elections.

“Under current legislation in several countries, it is almost impossible to react to election interference by foreign actors due to the lack of precise and constitutionally conforming definitions of what an influence operation is, who should be held accountable for the deliberate dissemination of false information, and what the penalty should be in such cases. These should be defined in the legislation,” they write.

Based on its work on countering election interference, Hybrid CoE offers its Participating States various training sessions and briefings on election security, and how to counter hybrid threats against elections throughout the current super election year.

The work will culminate in a closed event for Hybrid CoE’s Participating States that aims to collect and share best practices and lessons learned during the elections in 2024.

“I would like to encourage all our Participating States to track any hybrid threat activity against their elections and discuss the cases with us. This will help us at Hybrid CoE to help you strengthen your election security in the long run,” says Susanna Kujanpää, who leads the Preventing Election Interference workstrand.

The two reports on election security can be read in full here:

source: DFRLab
  • January 25, 2024

Invitation to Atlantic Council’s webinar on Ukraine’s fight against disinformation

Monday 29 Jan 2024
15:00–16:00 CET / 16:00–17:00 Helsinki time (UTC +2)
Online event

In 2023, the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab interviewed two dozen Ukrainian officials and experts leading the country’s efforts to counter Russian information operations. The result is a groundbreaking new report How Ukraine fights Russian disinformation: Beehive vs mammoth, documenting how they’ve been doing it, what’s working, and their advice for Western governments also facing Russian information threats.

As a follow-up to the publishing of the Hybrid CoE Research Report, this event features the authors Jakub Kalenský and Roman Osadchuk, who will discuss the main lessons learned by Ukraine over the last decade and explore how Ukraine’s resilience can serve as a model for Europe and elsewhere.

 Sign up for the event on the Atlantic Council’s website here.

  • November 3, 2023

Jarmo Lindberg elected new Chair of Hybrid CoE’s Steering Board

General Jarmo Lindberg, FAF, MP, has been elected Chair of the Steering Board of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats from 1 January 2024 for a term of three years.

The current Chair, Mr Jori Arvonen, State Under-Secretary for European Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland, will leave the position at the end of 2023, having chaired the Steering Board since the establishment of the Centre in 2017. Mr Arvonen was also part of the group preparing for the Centre’s establishment in Helsinki, Finland.

The Steering Board, consisting of representatives from Hybrid CoE’s 35 Participating States, is the principal decision-making body at the Centre. Staff representatives from the EU and NATO are invited to attend the Steering Board meetings.

“As a consequence of the conventional war raging in Europe, we must also be better prepared for future hybrid threats where nation-states search for all possible avenues of influence to enforce their own agenda,” said General Lindberg. “We need to take our comprehensive security to the next level, where inter-governmental cooperation enables better situational awareness for future coordinated operations against challenging hybrid operations.”

General Lindberg is the former Chief of Defence of Finland (2014–2019) and is currently a Member of the Finnish Parliament. Previously, he has also served as Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics and Armaments in the Finnish Defence Command, as well as Commander of the Finnish Air Force, among other positions. He retired from the Finnish Defence Forces in 2019.

“In six years, the Centre has contributed greatly to raising awareness of hybrid threats and to bringing EU and NATO countries together, helping them to understand and counter the threats. It has been a privilege to participate in this journey,” said outgoing Chair, Jori Arvonen.

Talking to Hybrid CoE’s Steering Board, Under-Secretary Arvonen also commented on the future of the Centre: “The way I see it, the next step for Hybrid CoE is not only to contribute to our own work, but to reach out to our partners outside the EU and NATO and to create a global network of like-minded countries working together. With General Jarmo Lindberg as Chair, and Professor Teija Tiilikainen as Director, I am convinced that the Centre will continue to play an even more central role in the years to come.”

Hybrid CoE’s mission is to strengthen its Participating States’ security by providing expertise and training for countering hybrid threats, and by enhancing EU-NATO cooperation in this respect. The Centre is an autonomous hub for practitioners and experts, located in Helsinki, Finland.

  • October 27, 2023

North Macedonia joins Hybrid CoE

On 27 October, the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats had the pleasure of welcoming Mr Bujar Osmani, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia. Mr Osmani visited the Centre to hand over the Letter of Notification to Director Teija Tiilikainen, officially making North Macedonia the 35th Participating State of Hybrid CoE.

“Hybrid threats have become an ever more visible part of our security environment, and it’s with this in mind that I’m pleased to welcome North Macedonia to join the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats,” Director Teija Tiilikainen stated. “With the accession of its 35th Participating State, the Centre is now even stronger when it comes to building capacity and expertise in support of democratic societies.”

“Hybrid threats pose an unprecedented challenge today, blurring the lines between conventional and unconventional warfare, transcending time and space, and demanding innovative strategies to safeguard national and international security,” said Mr Osmani.

“For North Macedonia, participation in Hybrid CoE represents a huge step towards strengthening national resilience and advancing collective efforts to counter these increasing challenges. We are honoured to join as the 35th country, and are eagerly looking forward to collaborating and sharing experiences with the other Participating States, the EU and NATO. Our aim is not only to make a valuable contribution to the activities of Hybrid CoE but also, through collective efforts and mutual support, to effectively address all security challenges within the complex and ever-evolving realm of hybrid threats,” Mr Osmani added.

In addition to North Macedonia, the Participating States of the Centre of Excellence include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Centre cooperates closely with the EU and NATO.

  • October 10, 2023

The relationship between hybrid warfare and cognitive threats studied from the cyber defence point of view

Hybrid CoE organized the fifth Cyber Power Symposium on Hybrid Conflict and Warfare (CPH) on 3 October. This year’s online symposium, entitled ‘The cyber and hybrid aspects of cognitive warfare/superiority’, was organized for the first time together with the European Defence Agency (EDA). It drew experts from 33 Hybrid CoE Participating States, the EU and NATO, as well as from Australia, Japan, Ukraine, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland.

Questions addressed during the event included the role of artificial intelligence and quantum computing in cognitive warfare, possible countermeasures, and the potential need for an additional concept of cognitive defence to counter information, psychological and cyber elements as a part of hybrid defence.

The first panel discussed countering cognitive warfare, especially in relation to the cyber-information-influence nexus and operations that can be carried out within it. Cases from Australia, Austria, Canada, and the USA were discussed. One of the conclusions was that state actors may achieve cognitive superiority by regulation and laws or by educational empowerment.

The second panel focused on the relationship between hybrid warfare and cognitive threats. With the changing international order and rapid technological advances, it is important to respond to new ‘ways of warfare’, including the threats emanating from the cognitive domain.­­­­­

Cognitive superiority can be seen as the goal of modern information and cyber warfare, relying on access to information, pervasive surveillance, personalized persuasion, and new technologies. One of the takeaways from the symposium was that cognitive superiority is nothing new – it is part of or included in hybrid threats, but there is also a cognitive domain. Hence, we must start to think about hybrid threats in a more sophisticated way.

  • September 18, 2023

ESDC-led course ‘The Contribution of Cyber in Hybrid Conflict’ held for second time in Helsinki

Hybrid CoE had the pleasure of hosting the course ‘The Contribution of Cyber in Hybrid Conflict’ for the second time on 11–15 September 2023. The course was organized in cooperation with the European Defence Agency (EDA) under the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) framework, bringing together 41 participants from across EU institutions, 19 member-state ministries, and military headquarters.

During the first two days, the course provided participants with lectures on the key elements of cyber defence and hybrid threats, and addressed the implications of the intersection of cyber and hybrid threats/attacks and campaignsto deepen participants’ understanding of the broad spectrum of hybrid threats. Hybrid CoE experts briefed attendees on the conceptual model of hybrid threats, the nexus between cyber and hybrid threats, disinformation, hybrid warfare, deterrence, and the role of state actors such as Russia and China. Representatives from the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Union Military Staff (EUMS) and the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) introduced the EU and NATO approaches to cyber, strategic communication and the cyber diplomacy toolbox.

On the remaining course days, the participants had the opportunity to practise what they had learned by joining a tabletop exercise addressing the implications of the nexus of cyber and hybrid. The roles that the participants played in the exercise resembled their position in reality, senior advisors to the political leadership. During this decision-making exercise, the participants assessed an emerging crisis situation in national teams representing imaginary countries, developed a strategic plan to fulfil their country’s policy objectives, and selected a range of actions using all levers of national power. These interlinked decisions were played out over four successive turns in an insight-rich and highly absorbing learning exercise.

On 15 September, certificates were ceremoniously handed over to participants who successfully completed the course. The course is recognized by the EU, EDA and ESDC.

Organization (Hybrid CoE)

Albania joins Hybrid CoE – completing the participation of all EU and NATO countries

Read ›
Eastern Partnership countries

Ukrainian professors trained on the use of game-based methods for countering hybrid threats

Read ›
Organization (Hybrid CoE)

Martha Turnbull appointed Director of Community of Interest on Hybrid Influence

Read ›
Cyber

The sixth Cyber Power Symposium discussed the use of cyber-related technologies, such as AI, to gain cognitive superiority

Read ›
Election interference

Looking to secure elections? Strengthen cyber defences and provide information security training for citizens and politicians alike

Read ›
Disinformation

Invitation to Atlantic Council’s webinar on Ukraine’s fight against disinformation

Read ›
Organization (Hybrid CoE)

Jarmo Lindberg elected new Chair of Hybrid CoE’s Steering Board

Read ›
Organization (Hybrid CoE)

North Macedonia joins Hybrid CoE

Read ›
Cyber

The relationship between hybrid warfare and cognitive threats studied from the cyber defence point of view

Read ›
Cyber

ESDC-led course ‘The Contribution of Cyber in Hybrid Conflict’ held for second time in Helsinki

Read ›