Under the theme »Effective Response to Cyber Attacks in the Energy Sector« the Fraunhofer Center for Digital Energy held the cybersecurity exercise »EnerCise II« at the Future Energy Lab of dena in Berlin on April 24. This exercise was designed for distribution network operators to practice cybersecurity measures and improve communication and networking among participants.

The event included a preparatory online workshop and a brief introduction on the day of the exercise. The main focus was the practical session, where participants were divided into groups of control room personnel, IT/OT personnel, and management to work together to handle the cyber attack. The realistic exercise was enhanced by the specially developed co-simulation environment Wattson, which simulated a medium-voltage network and its associated ICT network. Using a Red Team versus Blue Team approach, participants acted as defenders (Blue Team), while the organizing team played the attackers (Red Team). Besides technical skills, resilient communication and crisis management were crucial to overcome challenges like time pressure, incomplete information, and partial communication infrastructure failures. After successfully defending against the cyber attack, there was a debriefing and analysis session, followed by a group dinner to conclude the day.