In the framework of the upcoming elections and further to an official request from the Portuguese National Cybersecurity Centre (CNCS), the EU Agency for Cybersecurity ENISA actively supports Portugal's National Cybersecurity Exercise (ExNCS) held on 3rd and 4th April 2019.
In its second edition, the exercise focuses on the resilience of the electoral process, engaging a large number of stakeholders from public as well private organisations. The exercise tests the coordinated response at different levels, the information exchange processes and the national contingency plans.
ENISA offers direct support by providing the Cyber Exercise Platform that delivers exercise control functionality, hosts the exercise scenarios and allows for realistic simulation of media websites mimicking real-life infrastructures. The electoral process is put to the test by several simulations of cybersecurity incidents and disinformation campaigns and fake news.
ENISA's exercise team supports the exercise in two sites. On part of the team at ENISA’s making sure the infrastructure performance is at the highest level, while a mobile team provides onsite support to the exercise in the Portuguese capital.
The event organised in cooperation with the CNE – the National Elections Commission of Portugal was attended by the highest level including:
- President of the Portuguese Republic - Mr. Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa,
- Minister of the Presidency and Administrative Modernization - Dr. Mariana Vieira da Silva,
- Minister of Internal Affairs - Dr. Eduardo Cabrita,
- General Secretary of the Internal Security System, Deputy Attorney General - Ms. Maria Helena Fazenda,
- General Secretary of the Information System of the Portuguese Republic, Ambassador Maria da Graça Mira Gomes,
- and many others high-level people in Portugal.
ENISA is committed to continue to actively support the EU Member States authorities by providing its unique cyber exercise expertise and capabilities, in order to reinforce the resilience of the national and European critical IT systems and infrastructures.
Previous news item: https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/enisa-news/jenisa-supports-portuguese-national-cybersecurity-exercise-on-electoral-process