The NATO-Ukraine Center is testing a new game designed to combat cyber threats
Next week, the NATO-Ukraine Center will host a training session focused on countering Russian information and psychological operations. Participants will practice influence scenarios using a specialized digital simulation and test new approaches to strategic communications. Ukrainian and international experts will be involved in the process. This was reported by JATEC.
The NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Center (JATEC), together with the Center for Experimentation on Information Operations (MNIOE), is preparing a new training seminar that will be entirely dedicated to countering hostile information and psychological operations.
This was reported by JATEC, which emphasized that the main goal of the event is to test modern methodologies and digital tools that can help strategic communicators better respond to information threats in real time. The training is built around a digital game specially developed by NATO called “Cohesion,” which simulates the work of government agencies in a complex multi-domain environment and replicates information influence in crisis situations. “Through this event, JATEC is drawing on the expertise of Ukrainian experts to assess and share experience in countering the information and psychological operations currently being used by Russia, which are identified as the primary threat to NATO’s information environment and societal resilience,” the NATO-Ukraine Center emphasized.
According to the organizers’ plan, participants will be divided into designated groups—the Blue, Red, and Green teams—each of which will have its own role in the simulation of an information confrontation.
The Blue and Red teams will compete for influence and to shape the information landscape, while the Green audience will act as a simulated society targeted by these communication efforts. “The game is designed as a competition for cognitive advantage, where the Red and Blue teams attempt to influence and shape the perceptions of the Green audience. After the exercise concludes, there will be a scoring and evaluation phase to determine which team had a greater impact on the audience’s perceptions and demonstrated greater effectiveness in the cognitive sphere,” JATEC explained.
After the training concludes, the organizers plan to analyze the simulation results to use them for the further development of the strategic communications system and to strengthen resilience against information attacks.
Ukraine has secured new commitments from partners under the PURL program, through which U.S. weapons are procured for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Additionally, another source of funding has been secured, which will help cover part of Ukraine’s defense needs.
