In 2013, the e-Governance Academy of Estonia and the e-Government Center of the Republic of Moldova implemented a  cyber security project. Hannes Astok, Program Director, e- Governance Academy of Estonia, will tell us more about the importance of cyber security in protecting personal information in the digital world.

Can you tell us what is the e-Governance Academy of Estonia and what are the projects you have implemented in your country?

e-Governance Academy is a nongovernmental organization that has the main task of developing cooperation with countries interested in e-Government and e-Government development. We share our knowledge in this field with other countries, but also advise the Government about the latest trends in e-Government. E- Governance Academy was established in 2002 by the United Nations Development Programme, Soros Foundation network, Open Society Institute and the Estonian Government. We work with many countries and are focused mainly on developing countries. Until now, we have been working with more than 40 governments. 

Since when have you collaborated with the Republic of Moldova?

This is already the second project in Moldova. We started in 2011 by assisting Moldova to set up the e-Government and now, under the second project, we are assisting the e-Government Center and Moldovan institutions to set up Cyber Security.

How do authorities communicate with citizens about cyber security?

This is a very important issue, because almost all modern risks are connected to cyber security issues. There are definitely also traditional risks like crime, terrorism or natural disasters, but we are pretty well prepared for those. But, if you are thinking about cyber risks and digital security risks, they are all new, so people - citizens and officials - often cannot imagine all the risks that could occur and how easy actually it is to lose your digital identity. So, I think it is a common issue for all the countries around the world - they are all in the same situation, because the risks are similar for every country. In Estonia we started thinking more about cyber security after we had massive cyber-attacks from some neighbouring countries - it was a wakeup call for us and we started developing our policies and documents in this field. We organize demonstrations about how you can hack a computer in order to inform citizens about cyber risks, we hold various seminars and develop public awareness campaigns. It is also part of the education system, so we use every channel we can in order to inform people about this new reality. 

In 2013,the e-Governance Academy of Estonia and the e-Government Center of the Republic of Moldova implemented a cyber security project. Can you provide us with more details about this project?

Our project has 3 components: the first component consists in developing a cyber security Roadmap for Moldovan government institutions, the second component consists in developing minimum requirements for digital information security for government institutions, or what governments should do in order to secure digital information. The third component is more general, raising awareness among government officials and Moldovan citizens on current risks and threats in relation to cyber security. 

What measures do you think the Moldovan authorities should undertake in order to provide Moldovan citizens with a safe experience and communication/interaction in the cyber space?

The Moldovan Government has already taken measures by implementing the mobile ID system. It is a perfect example of a very secure system, which allows identifying yourself and keeping safe your digital signature - this is a fundamental step towards cyber security. Also, Moldova has an important institution, the e-Government Center. This is a very good start. You have a lot of people who deal with the electronic services development and they were notified about the new threats as well. Thus, once they develop new services, they will take into consideration the security issues. This process should continue, following the next steps that are included in our programme. One of these steps is developing the strategic Roadmap, a strategic document that outlines the roles and responsibilities of different organizations, so that you do the right things.

Do you intend to continue the collaboration with Moldova? 

The Estonian Government sees Moldova as one of the main development cooperation partners and in this project. We received generous funds from USAID. This project (Developing the National Roadmap) is co-financed by USAID and the Estonian Development Cooperation Programme, so this is just a question of agreements. We see Moldova as a very important partner of our development cooperation, as Moldova declared its intention to join the European Union, and this is a very clear and visible sign that you are taking steps to improve your Governance and to secure your Government and citizens against cyber risks, so we are very happy to share our knowledge. It’s a very interesting process for us, because by developing and implementing a secure e-Governance project, we learn from your experience. Quite often countries contribute with fresh ideas, so we are using their knowledge and challenges to better understand how to improve our policy and activities.