Week 10 a.k.a. Level Of Security In E-Country

In such digitally developed country as Estonia, many important services can be accessed online. In order to prevent misuse of these services, systems providing them should be secure. This is Week 10 of SPEAIT2021K course and I would like to take a look at the security of digital systems in Estonia.

I will be using a formula proposed by Kevin Mitnick, which consists of three parts: technology, training and policy. Diving a little deeper, technology aspect includes use of all kinds of applications, ranging from antiviruses to VPNs and Proxys, firewalls and means for ensuring network security. Training means raising awareness of different kinds of possible attacks and teaching employees the best practices of cyber hygiene and security. And last, but not least, policy stands for all the paperwork, such as company security policy, set of rules, etc.

1. Technology

As for the technological level, Estonia is on a very high level. The majority of day-to-day operations can be done never leaving home, such as paying bills, signing documents or even voting. In our country, unlike many others, citizens are also not restricted in use of VPN and Proxy software, which contributes to overall security. Lastly, people are free to use antivirus software and the choice isn't limited in any ways, again, unlike some other countries.

2. Training

This aspect is what in my opinion our country lacks in. Children are not taught the proper cyber hygiene in schools and what's more important, they are not taught the importance of one. The reason for that is ignorance of the older generation, who have a very strange mindset - "I'm not a millionaire, so I'm no interest to hackers". Currently I work in a big supermarket and it's sad to see how little others care for cyber security. As an example, passwords to computers are written down on sticky notes and stuck to the computers. I think that considering the level of integration of digital technology into our lives major campaigns should be run to raise awareness.

3. Policy

Unfortunately, this is one topic that I am not sure of myself. Even though Estonia is a member of EU, therefore should comply to EU laws, such as GDPR, I think that it boils down to awareness. Going back to the example with the passwords stuck to the screen, I am pretty sure that it is forbidden somewhere in the set of company policies and guidelines, people will ignore those rules as long as they don't understand why there are such rules in the first place.