In the spring of 2007, Estonia became the victim of one of the first centralized cyberattacks on a national scale.

Local Russians responded to the government's decision to move the Soviet monument "Bronze Soldier" from the center of Tallinn to the Military Cemetery with massive riots. Over the course of two nights, Russian-speaking protesters staged bloody clashes not only in the capital but also in other cities across the country. At the same time, hackers tried to paralyze the work of the state with a coordinated attack on the country's digital infrastructure, which Estonia was actively developing at the time.

The attack repelled by Estonia changed the perception of aggression – the world recognized that it can be more than just armed. Already in January 2008, NATO adopted its first Cyber Defense Policy. Later, the Alliance recognized, for example, that such cyber attacks could lead to the use of Article 5. Estonia is a world leader in cyber defense.

"We have learned from the past and significantly changed our structures," says Mihkel Tikk, Deputy Commander of the Estonian Armed Forces Cyber Command

In an interview with LIGA.net he explained how the country has built a multi-level cybersecurity system, where common sense and backup systems are often more important than technology.

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You will learn from this text:

  • why janitors and construction workers are sometimes more important than hackers in cyber defense;
  • how Estonia has been building up its cybersecurity ecosystem;
  • what place Russian hackers currently occupy in the world;
  • where cyber ends and AI begins in cyber threats, and what it changes.

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