User:Waffely/Cyber Command Belgian Armed Forces

The Cyber Command is the fifth component of the Belgian Defense; which additionally consists of the Land Component, the Air Component, the Marine Component, the Medical Component.

General
The Cyber Command was established in 2022 to protect the IT infrastructure of the Belgian (security) services, governments and companies against the rapidly increasing threats. In addition to direct attacks on Belgian civil and military networks, the Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns, as well as conspiracy theories, have for example led to the absolute necessity of creating a new unit in the Belgian Army that can defend and counter the disseminators of disinformation campaigns. They not only work defensively and preventively, but also carry out intelligence missions and even offensive cyber operations. They are active in the three dimensions of cyberspace: the physical (think of servers, hardware, fiber optic cables, satellites, 5G networks), the software (viruses, malware) and the virtual (social media).

The new unit, for which 400 million euros has been allocated under the STAR (Security & Service - Technology - Ambition - Resilience) plan, recruits and brings together top military and civilian specialists in the field of countering cyber attacks. Until 2024, the Cyber Command will still fall under the military intelligence service ADIV/SGRS and will build on the capabilities already housed there. After that it becomes a real, independent component with its own legal framework. The Cyber Command cooperates and exchanges information with various services and companies within the Belgian cyberspace. They also collaborate with researchers from the Royal Military Academy and the Royal Higher Institute for Defence. For example, studies are underway in cryptography into stronger encryption techniques and devices that can generate the cryptographic keys.