Andorra completes high‑complexity national cyber exercise across critical infrastructure

The National Cybersecurity Agency of Andorra (ANC‑AD) and the Principality’s reference incident response team (CSIRT‑AD) have completed a scheduled high‑complexity national cyber exercise involving more than 20 public and private strategic organisations. The drill ran within the planned timeframe and concentrated on the country’s critical and important infrastructures.

Exercise sessions recreated high‑impact, real‑world scenarios aligned with current international trends: a ransomware attack disrupting essential systems; an infostealer campaign aimed at harvesting credentials and sensitive data; and a data‑leak incident caused by both external intrusion and internal error. The scenarios were designed to test detection, response and recovery across multiple sectors.

Participants ranged from organisations with a high level of cybersecurity maturity to entities still rolling out advanced capabilities. Organisers reported strong engagement from both the public and private sectors and said the exercise revealed practical differences in readiness and coordination among participants.

Jordi Ubach, director of ANC‑AD, said the scenarios “made it possible to evaluate resilience, inter‑institutional coordination and the participating organisations’ detection, response and recovery capabilities.” He added that the exercise “also served to validate procedures, identify areas for improvement and reinforce communication channels and decision‑making mechanisms in crisis situations.”

ANC‑AD said the exercise reinforces Andorra’s National Cyber Resilience Model, helps ensure continuity of essential services and protects digital assets. The agency described the activity as contributing to the consolidation of a national cybersecurity culture and keeping the Principality aligned with international best practices.

Authorities emphasised that periodic exercises of this scale are essential to anticipate emerging threats, detect structural vulnerabilities and ensure preparedness for serious incidents. The drill forms part of a broader effort to improve cross‑sector coordination and increase the country’s capacity to respond to increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats.

ANC‑AD and CSIRT‑AD thanked participating organisations and indicated they intend to continue running similar exercises to maintain and improve national readiness.