INTRODUCTION PREFACE How can governments and other entities involved in enhancing cyber security stay ahead of evolving threats represented by cyber-savvy criminals and hackers? Staying up to date on technology developments, and being able to quickly adapt to new threats, requires being cyber-aware. This may be ensured only through continuous learning processes. Dedicated lectures, courses, seminars, reading books – all are useful and favored. However, one more method of education exists and is specific for several reasons – cyber security exercises. IT experts are usually not fully aware of the impact IT products and technology solutions may have on national security and technical personnel on the operational level is often not familiar with the processes of political, diplomatic and strategic decision-making. Likewise, senior leadership, law enforcement officials and policymakers face difficult challenges in their work without necessarily knowing the technical implications and impacts associated with cyber incidents. Cyber exercises pose a great opportunity for how to get technically skilled professionals and government representatives in conversation, to confront each other with their different perspectives on problem solving. In addition, cyber exercises enable stakeholders to tackle important aspects of responding to incidents – such as the deployment of technical solutions, teamwork, information sharing or cooperation – in a safe and secure environment. It can provide real-time evaluations or lessons learned, which is especially important for reviewing and improving internal procedures, contingency planning, crisis management etc. Aside from the knowledge gap between technical staff and decision-makers, varying capabilities and skills between younger and older generations must also be taken into account. Given the practicality, interactivity, and not least given the fun element, which exercises usually offer, these might be the appropriate form of education for every age group. Thus, effectively targeted and crafted cyber exercises can contribute to the digital literacy of a population. The more cyberknowledgeable the population is, the more digitally-secure the country becomes. 3/29