Estonian universities to start training cyber defense experts

05.11.2007

TALLINN, Nov 05, BNS - As part of Estonia's new cyber defense strategy, special courses will be introduced into the curricula of Estonian universities in coming years, the daily Postimees says.

The first information security-related course is to begin to be taught already in the new year, the paper says.

The massive cyber attacks against Estonian websites in April showed that Estonia lacks cyber defense and information security specialists, said professor Enn Tougu, a member of a project team for the NATO center of excellence for cyber defense to be established in Estonia.

"Because of that, we plan to speedily launch a cyber defense module worth 20 points at master's degree level," Tougu said.

In his words, cyber defense lectures should begin already in February and the whole scheme will be implemented in cooperation of universities. "Professors will come from both the Tallinn University of Technology and the University of Tartu, which have world-level cryptography specialists, and the National Defense College too will be involved," the professor said.

A structural unit of the National Defense College is the Communication and Information Systems Training and Development Center of the defense forces that is linked with the future NATO cyber defense center and whose classrooms in Tallinn are planned to be used for teaching the course.

Tougu said the subjects to be taught will include legal aspects of cyber defense, different kinds of malicious software, and cryptography, to name some.

A full master's degree course in cyber defense is to be introduced in fall 2009.

The module to be launched in February needs a money injection of around 700,000 kroons (EUR 44,700), but it is not yet clear at this point whether the funds should come from the budget of the Defense Ministry or the Education and Science Ministry, Tougu said.

The government is expected to issue within a few weeks an order to draw up a cyber defense strategy for 2008-13. An explanatory letter to the draft order already names tentative sums state institutions should spend on raising the efficiency of information security in the next six years.

The sum amounts to roughly 170 million kroons. The biggest part of it, or about 83 million kroons according to current calculations, should be spent on protecting critical infrastructure. Some 23 million kroons will be earmarked for media campaigns to highlight the importance of cyber defense.

(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)

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