News Archive - Page 13 of 16 - Hybrid CoE - The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats

November 14, 2018

Romania becomes a member of Hybrid CoE

H.E. Mr. Răzvan Rotundu, Ambassador of Romania to Finland, this afternoon signed a notification regarding participation in the Memorandum of Understanding on the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), making Romania officially a member state at the Centre.

“Hybrid CoE is pleased to welcome Romania to join us as the 19th participating state, and is happy to see the European hybrid family expanding. We are looking forward to sharing experiences and best practices, particularly on the Black Sea region. Romania’s know-how and special regional focus contribute greatly to Hybrid CoE’s activities”, said Matti Saarelainen, Director of Hybrid CoE.

Ambassador Rotundu stated that “For Romania, fighting the hybrid threats is extremely important, given the geostrategic position in a region with high security dynamics.” Moreover, in the context of Romania readying to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, our country’s accession to the Centre represents an active contribution to advancing this theme within the EU, offering supplementary possibilities to structure a comprehensive and coordinated approach.”

The other participating states of the Centre are Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US.

October 30, 2018

Canada joins Hybrid CoE

Today Colleen Merchant, Director General of the Canadian Cyber Security Centre gave a notification regarding participation in the Memorandum of Understanding on the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), making Canada officially a member state at the Centre.

Colleen Merchant, Director General of the Canadian Cyber Security Centre and Hybrid CoE Director Matti Saarelainen

“We are proud to see that Canada has decided to join the Hybrid CoE. Countering hybrid threats is all about international cooperation and we are delighted to welcome Canada’s contribution to the activities of the Hybrid CoE, which will make us even stronger. Canada will bring a lot of competence and expertise to our networks of practitioners and we are all looking forward to close cooperation,” said Matti Saarelainen, Director of the Hybrid CoE.

The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats is a hub of practitioners and experts building member states’ capabilities and enhancing EU-NATO cooperation in countering hybrid threats. In addition to Canada, the member states comprise Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA.

October 15, 2018

Call for Papers – Conference on ‘Legal Resilience in an Era of Hybrid Threats’

The Exeter Centre for International Law is hosting a conference on the subject of ‘Legal Resilience in an Era of Hybrid Threats’ on 8-10 April 2019 at the University of Exeter, in collaboration with the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Lieber Institute of the United States Military Academy.

The aim of the event is to explore the utility of legal resilience as an analytical and policy framework for countering the legal challenges presented by gray zone conflict, hybrid warfare and lawfare. The conference organisers invite proposals for papers, to be submitted by 30 November 2018.

October 10, 2018

Trainings on Open Source Material

In late September the Hybrid CoE organised one-day training on the use of open source material to counter hybrid threats. Course participants included strategic communicators, diplomats and civil servants from more than 10 nations.

Open source information resides in the public domain, is freely available and reachable by only legal means. Due to the massive amount of information generated and published every day, open source material needs to be analysed effectively, if it is used to counter hybrid threats. Participants of the training were introduced with the basics of Open Source Intelligence, emphasising the legal limits of it. Later, useful methodologies and techniques for using open source material were presented, including searching tools. At the end of the training, participants had an opportunity to test the theory in practice by doing individual and group exercises provided by the trainees.

The training was organised by the Hybrid CoE’s Community of Interest on Hybrid Influencing in cooperation with the Open Source Unit at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

October 4, 2018

Expert-pool trend mapping Western Balkans

This week the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) held an expert-pool workshop on Western Balkans. It can be argued that the Western Balkans is a region where many actors have strategic interests and their own state systems are still being shaped. The region is therefore experiencing a hybrid threat security environment. The aim of the workshop was to identify different trends that influence the region’s future. The findings of the workshop will be published as Hybrid CoE’s Western Balkans trend-map in Spring 2019.

Hybrid CoE’s Research and Analysis function coordinated the expert-pool seminar. Director for Strategic Planning and Responses, Hanna Smith (on the right) and deputy director Käsper Kivisoo (on the left) listening insights from invited experts.

The workshop is in line with the six flagship initiatives launched by the European Union for the support of countries in Western Balkans. Focus areas are the rule of law, security and immigration, socio-economic development, increased connectivity, digital agenda and good neighbourly relations.

September 28, 2018

Hybrid CoE Supports Informal NAC-PSC Discussion

This week the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) supported a hybrid scenario-based discussion for an informal meeting between the EU’s Political and Security Committee (PSC), the EU’s body to oversee the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the North Atlantic Council (NAC), NATO’s principal political decision-making body.

Photos: European Union / Enzo Zucchi

The informal discussion was structured around a scenario developed by the Hybrid CoE in which ambassadors discussed hybrid threats and how to counter them in a coordinated manner. This support is part of the Hybrid CoE’s ongoing efforts to support EU-NATO cooperation in countering hybrid threats.

More information about EU-NATO cooperation here.

Source: Shutterstock

September 10, 2018

Symposium on vulnerabilities and resilience in the maritime domain

Last week an International symposium on vulnerabilities and resilience in the maritime domain took place at the Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg

Representatives of military, civilian and business organizations discussed the emerging threats in the new security environment. There was a clear message from the business side – the concept and discussions relating to hybrid threats are important and have practical link to existing and future security concerns.

Throughout the panels the recurring themes were connected to the cyber aspects and technological development hand in hand with organizational challenges. Security and prosperity are related: in order to maintain our current living standard, we need to invest into security; without security our current economic development will be under pressure. As 90% of the world trade is connected to maritime transport, any systemic disruption will be felt, if only by increased cost of insurance.

To advance the understanding of administrative and political decision making, international and interagency cooperation will be critical. The future role and focus of USA in the North Atlantic seems to be crucial from the military perspective, however plethora of EU and domestic activities can be described as low-hanging fruit where little effort could result in visible gains.

Symposium was co-chaired/co-organized by the European Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats (Helsinki) and the interdisciplinary Research Network “Maritime Security” (iFMS, lead by Prof. Dr. Gary S. Schaal) of the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg. Within a research- and networking project concerning Maritime Security, the iFMS is directly tasked and supported by the German Ministry of Defense.

The detailed overview of the event will be published later this year, follow-up activities to this event are planned for the 2019.

September 10, 2018

Austria joins Hybrid CoE

Brigadier General Reinhard Trischak this afternoon signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), making Austria the 18th member state of the Centre.

“We are pleased to see that Austria has decided to join the Hybrid CoE. Countering hybrid threats is all about international cooperation and we are delighted to welcome Austria’s contribution to the activities of the Hybrid CoE, which will make us even stronger. We now have all 15 states that participated in the establishment process of the Centre on board,” said Matti Saarelainen, Director of the Hybrid CoE.

According to Brigadier General Trischak, the Hybrid CoE plays a crucial role in coordinating international efforts against hybrid threats. “We are grateful for Finland’s initiative and eager to contribute,” he added.

The other participating states are Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US.

August 23, 2018

Helsinki City launches a report on hybrid threats

Helsinki City has launched a report on hybrid threats and the kind of hybrid influencing that the city might encounter.

In Finland, the significance of the local level is emphasized by the broad self-government of municipalities and their responsibility for public services. A considerable proportion of the political decisions that affect people’s everyday lives are made by municipal boards and councils, and municipalities are in charge of social services, healthcare and education, for example.

These sectors are not only potential channels for exerting influence, but they also play a key role in the response to hybrid threats. Citizens’ trust in each other and official institutions has a major impact on society’s susceptibility to hybrid influencing, as well as resilience in the event of disruptions after the realization of a threat. Hence, responding to hybrid threats is largely in the hands of municipalities.

The report is based on a review of literature and public documents concerning the topic, a survey targeted at members of the Helsinki City Council, and interviews with a wide range of experts. The experts consulted include representatives of the City of Helsinki, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), the Finnish Border Guard, the National Emergency Supply Agency (including the Public Health Pool and Media Pool), Aalto University, Faktabaari, Cultura, the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland, CGI and KPMG, among others.

Hybrid CoE provided background support and supervision for the report.

The report (pdf) in English can be downloaded in full here.

The report (pdf) in Finnish.

The report (pdf) in Swedish.

June 20, 2018

Work strands on drones and energy security start

Yesterday Hybrid CoE and the COI on Vulnerabilities and Resilience organised a kick-start meeting on drones and hybrid threats.

The work strand aims to share understanding on vulnerabilities and develop resilience in relation to drones. The purpose of the kick-start was to map problems and issues the work strand can later focus on. Discussion covered several topics, such as energy, CDR, public safety and controlling technology for drones.

Participants of the kick-start event gathered together practitioners from member states and several institutions, such as NATO, Europol, EDA and the EU.

Veli-Pekka Nurmi, Adjunct Professor at the Tampere University of Technology, and Director of Safety Investigation Authority giving a presentation

Kick-start meeting on energy security focused on hybrid threats and energy sector. This strategically vital sector can be a target of hybrid influencing, such as cyber-attacks and information operations. Disturbances in energy systems can have both large scale societal as well as economic consequences. Therefore, risk assessment from a hybrid threat perspective is crucial in order to improve sector’s resilience.

Participants from energy sector, cyber security sector and security authorities mapped together possible vulnerabilities and made plans for the future work.