Estonia, Forum, Internet, Security

According to Hannes Astok, the Executive Director of e-Governance Academy the aim of the Conference and Table-Top Exercise is to raise awareness of how to secure elections in digital era and share Estonia's expertise on the field.

"Elections are crucial to the functioning of representative democracy. As recent years have shown, the trustworthiness of elections is not just a mere technical matter, but a more fundamental strategic problem that can determine the fate of our societies for decades to come. In Estonia, we believe that there is great potential in avoiding risks and taking measures to build the resilience of the democratic election processes, both online and in physical premises," explains Hannes Astok.  

The Conference speakers include former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Director of International Policy at the Cyber Policy Centre at Stanford University Marietje Schaake, Member of European Parliament Marina Kaljurand, Head of the National Electoral Committee of Estonia Oliver Kask, Director for Europe and Eurasia at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems Beata Martin-Rozumiłowicz, Expert in Cyber Security at Cybernetica Liisa Past, Professor of e-Governance at Tallinn University of Technology Robert Krimmer, Senior Cyber Security Expert at e-Governance Academy Merle Maigre and cyber and strategic leadership experts from CybExer Technologies - Lauri Almann and Kari-Pekka Rannikko.

The second part of the conference includes a table-top exercise, conducted by CybExer Technologies. According to Lauri Almann, the Executive Director of CybExer Technologies, the exercise is aimed at strengthening and building awareness about countering elections-related cyber threats. "The exercise provides participants with a unique experience of participating in a fictional cyber crisis by taking concrete crisis management decisions and exploring the (in)formal frameworks that govern decision-making processes. What sets this event apart from other table-top exercises is CybExer's software platform called STRATEX, that takes such exercises to a new level," said Lauri Almann.

The election interference exercise content is drawn from the experience of the prior engagement in Ukraine in 2019 with the European Union project "Countering Elections-related Cyber Threats and Disinformation Campaigns in Ukraine".

The conference is organised by e-Governance Academy, CybExer Technologies, Estonian National Electoral Committee, Microsoft and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

For more information visit the conference website ega.ee/cyberconf2020.