Estonia to open world’s first virtual data embassy

TALLINN: Cyber-savvy Estonia has taken yet another step forward in global technology, as the small Baltic state is set to open the world’s first data embassy in Luxembourg early next year.

The heavily protected server room will contain important Estonian e-government data, so that the Nato and eurozone member can access it even when systems are down at home.

“Data security and cyber security are generally crucial from the perspective of both people’s confidence and the functioning of services. It is also an important part of so-called daily digital hygiene in increasingly digitising societies,” Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas said last month.

Ratas released the statement after signing an agreement with his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel on housing Estonian data there.

“This is the first data embassy in the world,” said Ratas, whose small country of just 1.3 million people has been dubbed E-stonia for being a trailblazer in technology.

After five decades of Soviet rule ended in 1991, Estonia opted to go hi-tech as fast as possible, and still outstrips other members of the European Union, which it joined in 2004.

One of the most connected countries in the world, the Baltic state has made most public services accessible at a special state portal and even pioneered e-voting in 2005.

Its capital Tallinn is home to the Nato cyber-defence centre, where data experts from across Europe and the United States work to protect the information networks of the alliance’s 29 member states. — AFP