Estonia and United States have started a cooperation to build a joint platform for sharing cyber threat intelligence between the two countries. The system will be developed by Cybernetica and procured by the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment according to a framework contract signed by the two parties at the end of last year.
The cooperation is based on a joint R&D cooperation agreement between the United States Department of Defense and the Estonian Ministry of Defence, signed in 2016, whereas the collaboration was initiated already in 2014 with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (USAFRL) with the idea of automating data exchange for cyber threats proposed.
"The goal is to develop an automised cyber threat intelligence system between the US and Estonian defence forces, tailored to the specific needs of the two nations to enhance the cyber defence capabilities of the two parties. Regular exchange of threat intelligence between actors is one of the core principles of cyber defence today," said Kusti Salm, Director General of the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment.
While the system will initially be used by Estonia and the United States, the parties are exploring possibilities to introduce the new capabilities to other allies.
According to Oliver Väärtnõu, CEO of Cybernetica, this is a historic milestone between the collaboration of the two nations. "This is the first-ever joint capability developed in the cyber domain between the two countries. We are proud that Cybernetica has the possibility to take part in this collaboration and that our experiences in creating state-of-the-art technologies in the domains of secure data exchange, situational awareness, privacy and information security is given tremendous recognition. We thank our partners both in the United States and Estonia for continued trust in Cybernetica for delivering critical systems," he added.