Testing resilience to hybrid threats: a real-time case study

This report draws attention to the urgency to improve cooperation between the public and the private sectors in order to increase readiness and resilience to hybrid challenges.

Friends of Europe’s annual online tabletop simulation exercise brought together senior officials and experts from NATO, the EU, national authorities, the media and business to test their collective response to a range of credible hybrid threat scenarios. Based on the findings of the innovative exercise, the report identifies eight recommendations to improve cooperation between the public and private sectors in order to deter, detect and defend societies from hybrid attacks and to increase whole-of-society resilience.

The novelty of this innovative exercise was to assess any improvement on the vulnerabilities identified in the 2019 exercise, as well as how to deal with emerging issues such as our increased reliance on resilient electrical systems and new developments regarding the impact of disinformation on societies during crisis. This second exercise also emphasised the role of cities and local actors, who often serve as the first line of defence and first responders in hybrid challenges.