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Estonia Seeks NATO Defense against Hackers
NATO experts are studying the proposal by Estonian Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo to equate attacks by hackers on the member state's servers with military aggression. A NATO cyber-defense center will soon be opened in Estonia to help it cope with Russian hackers' attacks.
The attacks began on April 27, after the relocation of the Bronze Soldier monument from downtown Tallinn. Estonian Chief of Defense Ants Laaneots first raised the issue of the attacks on an international level at a meeting of the military committees of the EU and NATO in Brussels last week. Aaviksoo continued to draw attention to the problem in a NATO meeting in Brussels on Sunday. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet has demanded that the issue be discussed at the EU-Russia summit on May 18.
The Estonian government has stated repeatedly that the attacks are originating not only from civilian servers in Russia, but from the servers of the Russian presidential administration and government as well. The servers of Estonia's parliament, president, treasury, foreign ministry, defense ministry and largest banks and newspapers have been the targets of the attacks. Hackers posted a fabricated apology by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip for the relocation of the Soviet monument on the website of the ruling Reform Party.
The Estonian government estimates the losses caused by the hacker attacks at more than the 30-50 million Estonian kroon it is paying in compensation for damages done by looters April 26-28. Estonia is well known in Europe for its system of “electronic government.” It is also the home of noteworthy computer geniuses, including the founders of the Skype Internet telephone system and several leading employees of Microsoft. IT plays the same role in its economy as natural gas and oil does in the Russian economy.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 17, 2007
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