"South Korea Admitted to NATO Cyber Defense Center"

South Korea has become the first Asian nation to join NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE).  The country’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the announcement today.  NIS will represent South Korea in the center’s training and research activities.  NIS stated that they plan to strengthen their cyber response capabilities to a world-class level by increasing the number of their staff sent to the center and expanding the scope of joint training.  The latest entrant to the CCDCOE brings the total number of members to 32, including 27 full NATO members.  The center was initially set up in 2008 following a series of crippling cyberattacks in Estonia traced back to the Kremlin.  The center serves as a knowledge hub, research institution, and training facility focused on interdisciplinary applied research, consulting, and exercises in cybersecurity.  Over the years, it has become an important part of the NATO effort to combat disinformation and malicious cyberactivity from the East.  The move by South Korea is expected to be met with anger in Moscow following a vote by the CCDCOE in March to admit Ukraine as a “contributing participant” alongside other non-NATO countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland.  Last month, another non-NATO member, Finland, won the center’s Locked Shields 2022 cyber defense exercise. 

Infosecurity reports: "South Korea Admitted to NATO Cyber Defense Center"