Digital republic Estonia looks to partner with India on cybersecurity

Jonathan Vseviov, Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Estonia, one of the world's most digitally advanced countries, is looking to partner with India on cybersecurity.

In multiple interaction meetings with journalist delegates from India visiting the capital city of Tallinn, stakeholders in the Estonian government expressed their intent to work with India on cybersecurity.

“We are happy to intensify the cooperation with India and to conduct cyber exercises here. Globally, there is a rise in cyber attacks and Estonia is also facing attacks from hackers," said Jonatan Vseviov, secretary general, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The northern European country, with a population of 1.37 million, was formerly a part of the Soviet Union. In 2007, it faced the most extensive cyberattacks on its businesses and institutions.

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurred between April 25 and May 4, 2007. DDoS is a coordinated flood of internet traffic designed to overwhelm servers, rendering websites inaccessible for hours or even days. The cyberattack took place against the backdrop of riots by ethnic Russian Estonians, prompted by the removal of a Soviet war memorial from the center of Tallinn.

Similarly, large-scale DDoS attacks have been carried out against Estonian public sector websites and services, private companies since 2022. These attacks, the Estonian government alleges, were backed by Moscow, after it became the strongest supporter of Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

“2007 cyber attack was a wake-up call for us. It was a politically motivated cyber-attack against government institutions, private companies and news organisations. We as a digitised country realised that the digital domain is as important as land, air, space and sea. The information exchanges and coordination between stakeholders are extremely important," Vseviov said.

Dr Mart Noorma, director of Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) said: "We wholeheartedly welcome like-minded democratic nations like India to join us. This will help in cyber knowledge and exchanging methods to address cyber-attacks. The cooperation will help a large-scale coalition through research, training, and exercises."

The NATO (CCDCOE) is a NATO-accredited knowledge hub, which was established in 2008, and offers an interdisciplinary approach to the most relevant issues in cyber defence. It has a group of international experts from the military, government, academia and industry from 39 countries.

Noorma said that CCDCOE protects national civilian and military IT systems and critical infrastructure in a large-scale cyber-attack.

Estonian Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur said: "Every country that is ready to contribute to the fight against evil is more than welcome in Estonia because we have great experience in the cyber field. We have also specially designed institutions for this purpose. When there are people who are ready to contribute to our common goals, we are open to collaboration. However, we must understand that as a small country, we can host only a limited number of guests"

"Estonia also established the Cyber Defence League, which is a voluntary organization within our military defence."

Digital Republic

A whopping 99 percent of Estonia's government services are available online, with internet access enshrined as a basic human right in its constitution. In 2005, Estonia became the first country to implement online voting. The country offers the world's most comprehensive governmental online services, allowing the average taxpayer to file tax returns in just five minutes. Additionally, all medical records are digitized.

In 1997, Estonia launched the Tiger Leap project to expand internet networks and improve computer literacy. It was also the first country to legislate internet access as a basic human right. Free Wi-Fi hotspots started being built in 2001 and now cover almost all populated areas. In 2012, Estonia also became the first country to use blockchain technology for governance.

(The correspondent is in Tallinn on the invitation of the Embassy of Estonia in New Delhi)