How Estonia’s Cyber Defense is Propelling the Country Forward

A look inside the Estonian NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence

Increasingly more countries are taking notice of the small Baltic country of Estonia, mainly due to its increased efforts in fighting cyber hackers, Voice of America reports. Its capital of Tallinn hosts an impressive center to combat hackers against its country and its allies: the NATO-accredited Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence.

The Center was first proposed back in 2003, before Estonia was even admitted into NATO. But after crippling cyber attacks on the country and Estonian organizations in 2007 due to the relocation of a controversial Soviet-era War Memorial statue, cyber defense soon became a top priority for Estonia, and for the rest of NATO. One year later, the center was built in Tallinn in order to protect the defenses of all countries within the organization.

Although the Cyber Defense Center is not officially funded by NATO, it is funded by volunteer nations from the organization. Aside from Estonia, the Center’s other founding members were Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Spain. The United States, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Poland joined later on, and as threats of cyber attacks increased, in 2014 the UK and the Czech Republic joined in the same year along with Austria, a non-NATO country. As time has gone on, NATO countries have said that the Center has played an increasing role in protecting the organization’s countries from attack, giving helpful advice to these countries on cyber security and cyber policy.

“When it comes to the NATO networks and how we fight together, there are 28 doors to this alliance,” said Commander of the US European Command General Phil Breedlove in a statement in Istanbul. “If one of those doors is wide open, the alliance is wide open.”

As the smallest former state of the Soviet Union by population, Estonia has undergone an enormous transformation in just a very short time; although, to be fair, it is a long time coming. Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, Estonia was by far the most liberal of the former Soviet republics. After the death of Stalin in 1953, Estonians in Tallinn were permitted to visit Finland by ferry for a short amount of time. As well, Estonians had access to some Finnish radio and television programs, giving this small group of people an important glimpse into the Western World: a privilege that no other Soviet peoples were able to boast about. When Gorbachev introduced the policy of perestroika in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, Estonia played a sort of vanguard role in helping extend it.

Upon regaining its independence, Estonia has significantly modernized its technology industry, particularly its internet. Wi-Fi access in the country is virtually everywhere; even on buses. And not only is internet access incredibly easy, but it is nearly unrestricted. In a recent Freedom House Report on Internet Freedoms, Estonia ranked number 2 globally. That is before the United States on that list. People vote, complete banking transactions, pay taxes, and complete many other activities online. Through new innovations in the country such as E-Residency, foreigners can even start up their own businesses in the country almost entirely electronically. Estonia is often described as Europe’s most wired country, and for good reason: the internet has become practically hardwired into Estonian lifestyle.

Which makes cyber security such a priority for the small country. As NATO countries struggle to keep up with the right methods to try to combat hackers, many of them are now turning to Estonia and its Cyber Defense Center of Excellence. And with Russian hackers remaining one of the bloc’s number one fears when it comes to these hackers, it would seem that Estonia, whose population is not even one million and a half, has never felt more relevant.