Volunteer Cyber Army Emerges in Estonia

by Tom Gjelten, NPR Online

The nationwide cyber attack that took down Estonia’s government, financial, and media computer networks in 2007 led the country to establish the Cyber Defense League, which consists of volunteer programmers, computer scientists, and software engineers that are ready to function under military command during a cyberattack.

“[Our] league brings together specialists in cyberdefense who work in the private sector as well as in different government agencies,” says Estonia defense minister Jaak Aaviksoo. Estonia realized it was especially vulnerable to cyberattacks, as 80 percent of the population pays their taxes online and participates in online banking. In fact, Aaviksoo says the importance for Estonia to have a skilled cyberarmy could lead to the government instituting a draft to ensure that every cyberexpert is available for duty. “We are thinking of introducing this conscript service, a cyberservice,” Aaviksoo says. “We don’t have the mechanism or laws in place, but it might be one option.”

The Estonian model is “a very sensible approach, and I only wish we had the same kind of relationship with our [information technology] sector that they obviously have with theirs,” says former U.S. Department of Homeland Security cyberdefense coordinator Stewart Baker.