Estonia's Cyber Range to use standalone 5G network

TALLINN - Estonian company Thinnect OU has chosen Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (Nokia DAC), a standalone 5G solution, for the network extension of the Estonian defense forces' cyber training field.

Andri Rebane, director of the cyber policy department at the Estonian Ministry of Defense, said that not only does the 5G extension to the Cyber Range enable to provide improved cyber defense exercises, but it also offers better research and development facility to keep up with the increasing need for secure innovative solutions for defense purposes.

"5G technologies will be adopted by military both in private as well as in public settings and this gives us an opportunity to develop new solutions that will improve our decision-making process. To test, validate and experiment with these solutions, a dedicated 5G network is needed where things can be broken during the development process to make sure the solutions are secure and can be trusted," Rebane said according to spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Defense.

Jurgo Preden, CEO of Thinnect, said that using the Nokia DAC, they can create and manage a secure cellular network to support the new training facility.

"Adding a 5G component to the Cyber Range, the Estonian Ministry of Defense will be able to take advantage of the latest capabilities to be better prepared for cyber threats," Preden said.

Offered as a service, the Nokia DAC allows Thinnect to implement a high-performance, end-to-end private wireless network using 5G to support ultra-low latency and real-time applications. The network will support both physical and virtual simulations of cyber attacks and will be used to develop tools to protect critical infrastructure systems.

Stephan Litjens, vice president for enterprise solutions at Nokia Cloud and Networking Services, said that Nokia is committed to using 4G and 5G private wireless technologies to support the development of secure critical infrastructure that will allow experts to establish security best practices and capabilities.

The critical infrastructure component for the Estonian Cyber Range will be operated by Foundation CR14 and delivered by Thinnect, University of Tartu, Cybexer Technologies, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence and Elisa Estonia. The research is funded by the Estonian Research Council through the RITA program.