29 April 2015

Estonia recruits volunteer army of 'cyber warriors'

26 Apr 2015

Estonia has recruited a "ponytail army" of volunteer computer experts who stand ready to defend the nation against cyber attack.

The country's reserve force, the Estonian Defence League, has a Cyber Unit consisting of hundreds of civilian volunteers, including teachers, lawyers and economists.

The Baltic nation of 1.3 million people is one of the most technologically advanced in the world: almost every banking transaction takes place online and 30 per cent of all votes in the last general election were cast electronically.

But this also makes Estonia acutely vulnerable. In 2007, the country sufferedone of the biggest cyber attacks in history when the websites of banks, government ministries and the national parliament were swamped with data.

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