Tag Archive for: Estonia

Kaimar Karu: Estonia deserves better from the presidential election | Opinion

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Even though the President of Estonia has no political power, the compatibility of the person’s political views with those of the party is of high importance for all five party leaders. This has increased relevance in the light of the local elections coming up later this year. The pronoun in “our president” could easily be misunderstood for that of the party, rather than the nation’s people.

Estonia’s constitution is very clear on the president’s responsibilities within our parliamentary democracy. None of these is dependent on the person’s political views, yet, the last five years have changed the public’s perception of the role, and this, in combination with fond memories of the first post-soviet president, Lennart Meri, has created an incompatible set of requirements for the next president.

The role could be unnecessary, but it is definitely needed. The person should be like our current president, but not at all like our current president. They should be apolitical, but definitely an active politician. They should unite, but definitely take sides. They should be smart, but not smarter. They should be older, but definitely young. The role belongs to a woman, but definitely not a woman etc.

It is difficult to imagine a person active in politics today, fighting for their party’s policies and against those from other parties representing roughly 80 percent of the voters, not always with the kindest of words, suddenly abandoning their raison d’être and becoming a party-agnostic, policy-agnostic promoter of common principles and decency over partisanship and one true answer to everything.

Before setting the selection criteria and definitely before speculating with any names, it would be good to think about what the country needs. What are the challenges Estonia and its people have to deal with in the coming years, considering our geopolitical position, threats and opportunities? We need to discuss how the head of state, in their international and domestic roles, can help achieve our objectives and mitigate risks. The role of the president is an active one, rather than a political trophy.

Those discussions, if happening, have gone unnoticed by the general public this time.

Again and again,…

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Estonia arrests hacker who stole 286K ID scans from govt database

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Estonia arrests hacker who stole 286K ID scans from govt database

Image: Stanislav Rabunski

A Tallinn man was arrested a week ago in Estonia under suspicion that he has exploited a government photo transfer service vulnerability to download ID scans of 286,438 Estonians from the Identity Documents Database (KMAIS).

The attacker was apprehended on July 23, following a Cybercrime Bureau of the National Criminal Police and RIA joint investigation that started after RIA was alerted of a higher than the usual number of queries.

“During the searches, investigators found the downloaded photos from a database in the person’s possession, along with the names and personal identification codes of the people,” Oskar Gross, head of the police’s cybercrime unit, said.

“Currently, we have no reason to believe that the suspect would have used or transmitted this data maliciously, but we will further clarify the possible motives for the act in the course of the proceedings.”

Stolen info cannot be used for fraud

The suspect downloaded the government document photos using the targets’ names and personal ID codes (available from various public databases).

RIA added that the stolen information could not be used to perform notarial or financial transactions or gain access to state digital services by impersonating the impacted individuals.

“It is not possible to gain access to e-services, give a digital signature, or to perform different financial transactions (incl. bank transfers, purchase and sales transactions, notarial transactions, etc.) using a document photo, personal identification code, or name,” RIA Director General Margus Noormaa added.

“People whose document photos have been stolen need not apply for a new physical or digital document (passport, ID-card, residence permit card, mobile-ID or Smart-ID, etc.) or take a new document photo. All identity documents and photos remain valid.”

All impacted individuals to be notified via email

Although the vulnerability was introduced in the system and could’ve been exploited several years ago, current evidence doesn’t show that such an attack has happened since then.

RIA also said that the data was not transferred from the suspect’s computer after it was stolen from KMAIS, and there is no reason to believe…

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Estonia to Push the Security Council to Recommend UN’s Guterres to a Second Term

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Eva-Maria Liimets, Estonia’s foreign minister since January 2021. Women also hold the posts of president and prime minister in the country, a current rarity in the world. RENEE ALTROV/ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE

The small Baltic country of Estonia is ready to boost the prospects of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres winning a second term as the country holds its last Security Council presidency in June during its current elected term.

“It will be very nice for us to do it,” Sven Jurgenson, Estonia’s ambassador to the UN, told PassBlue, adding, “and for me personally because during the last elections five years ago, Estonia together with Costa Rica had a lead in the ACT [Accountability, Coherence and Transparency] group on the selection process of secretary-general.” In 2016, Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal and head of the UN refugee agency for 10 years, was elected as the UN’s top leader for the 2017-2021 term.

Jurgenson added that “it would be rewarding to me also to see that the next selection will also happen during my watch, when I’m in the Council.”

As part of the overall process, the Council must recommend a candidate to the UN General Assembly for a vote. Guterres, the only officially recognized candidate, is likely to be re-elected, and Estonia wants to make sure the 193-member Assembly carries out the vote this summer.

In early May, after what many countries called a successful public dialogue with UN member states and a few members of civil society in a discussion hosted by the General Assembly president, Guterres’s second term became a fait accompli, to the great disappointment of numerous self-declared candidates who were hoping to be taken seriously and push the process to be even more transparent than it was in 2016, when a bold new experiment occurred.

None of the candidates, however, had a national endorsement, which translated into their not being acknowledged officially by the respective presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council. A handful of the candidates are still campaigning through informal means, and last week, a new person threw his hat in the ring, Patrick U. Petit, a 52-year-old…

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Estonia, U.S. Conduct Joint Defensive Cyber Operation > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Defense Department News

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U.S. Cyber Command conducted a joint defensive cyber operation with the Estonian Defense Forces’ cyber command on EDF networks, Sept. 23-Nov. 6. The operation was designed to counter malicious cyber actors and strengthened the cyber defense capability of both nations’ critical assets.

“Combined operations with our closest allies like [the] U.S. are vital for ensuring [the] security of our services,” Mihkel Tikk, the deputy commander of EDF’s cyber command, said.

“These kind[s] of operations provide our operators an opportunity to exchange best practices as well as give us objective feedback on our current defense posture in [the] cyber domain. This operation is another successful milestone in our cooperation with U.S. partners,” he said.

U.S. cyber specialists, referred to as “Hunt Forward” teams, and Estonian cyber personnel from Defense Forces Cyber Command, hunted for malicious cyber actors on critical networks and platforms. The U.S. has partnered with various countries throughout Europe, but this defensive cyber operation marked the first of its kind between the U.S. and Estonia.

“Despite the challenges of a global pandemic, we safely deployed to Estonia and other European countries for several weeks to gain unique insight into our adversaries’ activities that may impact the U.S.,” Army Brig. Gen. Joe Hartman, the commander of the Cyber National Mission Force, said.

“Our teams proactively hunt, identify and mitigate adversary malware and indicators,” he said. “We then share that malware broadly, not just with the U.S. government but with private cybersecurity industry and allies, which directly increases the overall security of U.S. critical infrastructure and related networks.”

For the U.S., the Hunt Forward teams play a crucial role in Cybercom’s “persistent engagement,” an effort aimed at countering malicious cyber activity below the level of warfare. Cybercom personnel are specially trained to secure and defend government networks and platforms against adversaries. The U.S. military’s “defend forward” strategy leverages key partnerships to address malicious cyber activity that could be used against U.S. critical…

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