1,500 military digital defenders spent past week cleaning up a series of cyberattacks on fictional island

Andravia and Harbadus – two nations so often at odds with one another – were once again embroiled in conflict over the past seven days, which thoroughly tested NATO's cybersecurity experts' ability to coordinate defenses across battlefield domains.

Around 1,500 practitioners took part in the annual battle that engulfed the island of Occasus-Icebergen, all working together to remediate cyberattacks on critical systems, the effects of which influenced how land, sea, and air forces were able to respond.

It does not take a geography buff to know that none of these places really exist, but the digital dust-up was certainly real.

The fictitious two-nation island has played host to a NATO training exercise for years that tests military cybersecurity personnel's ability to work together as hostile forces launch hybrid attacks on a nation they're tasked with defending.

NATO invited The Register to its headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia, to observe ...