Estonia Calls for International Cooperation to Combat Cyber Crime

The Government of Estonia, on June 5, 2007, summoned for an international gathering to discuss issues of computer-based attacks and how to combat them. It particularly referred to such attacks that targeted the Baltic State in late April and early May. World support for the convention would give the fight against cyber crimes by establishing a firm legal basis, said the Economic Affairs Ministry, as published by Chron.com on July 5, 2007.

In April 2007, Estonia was targeted by well-organized cyber attacks. The attacks started on April 27 following the transfer of the Bronze Soldier from the capital town Tallinn. The attacks were related to the diplomatic disturbances between Estonia and Russia after the Soviet-era memorial's relocation in the Estonian capital city.

The Chief of Defense in Estonia, Ants Laaneots, broached the topic of the cyber attacks at a meeting of EU and NATO's military committees in Brussels in May this year. This gave the issue an international stature.

Further, Estonia's Foreign Minister, Urmas Paet, demanded a discussion of the issue at the EU-Russia gathering on May 18, 2007. Kommersant published this in third week of May 2007.

Earlier, a teenager from Tallinn was involved in the release of a surge of (DoS) Denial of Service attacks that paralyzed the whole country. The Estonian police arrested the teenager. Following the attacks, he government institutions, private banks and mass media had to close access to their websites to people from outside Estonia. So Estonians traveling in foreign countries were suddenly not able to access their online bank accounts.

Estonian officials blamed Russia for triggering the attacks although Russian authorities dismissed it as untrue.

The Estonian government even adopted numerous measures to strengthen the nation's defenses against future cyber attacks. According to the Estonian ministers, new attacks could weaken "confidentiality of information systems and data integrity". Chron.com published this in news on July 5, 2007.

Estonia, which is a member of both the EU and NATO received sympathies and concerns of the two international bodies, on the cyber war directed on Estonia. To this effect, NATO deputed a professional to Tallinn to analyze data on the incident.

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» SPAMfighter News - 7/16/2007