Routledge Companion to Global Cyber-Security Strategy

19 ESTONIA

From the “Bronze Night” to cybersecurity pioneers

Nick Robinson and Alex Hardy

Introduction

Estonia is often lauded around the world for its leadership and expertise in cybersecurity and e-governance. Yet, for a relatively small country of just 1.3 million people, its role as a technological pioneer and “pathfinder” continues to surprise many. Such a position, however, can be evidenced by a number of developments to Estonia’s “digital society” since it restored independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In that time, Estonians have experienced what might be referred to as a “conveyor-belt period” of technological innovation and development, as the introduction of a mandatory national identity card (in 2002) arguably set about ...