New strategic document: Cyberspace new dimension in national security environment
The Ministry of the Interior is seeking opinions on a draft document setting out Estonia’s security policy fundamentals. The document designates cyberspace as another dimension of the country’s security environment, alongside land, territorial waters, and airspace.
The document’s sub-section on cyber security sets out the principle that cyber security would be organized evenly, and with the same structural solutions both for peacetime and war scenarios. Cyberspace transcends national borders, which further increases risks and vulnerability. Reducing this vulnerability at all levels largely hinges on people’s awareness and behavior to avoid cyber risks, the draft states.
It also says that uneven regional development, poorly adjusted groups in society, intolerance, and the polarization of society based on differences in opinions and attitudes can affect the internal stability of the state, and therefore have a security dimension. The ageing and shrinking population also represents a long-term risk.
The principal security risks for Estonia are a potential deepening of global security problems as well as the decreasing influence of the value space based on democracy, market economy, rule of law, and human rights. Risks are also identified in the weakening of ties based on the core principles of the European Union and Russia’s provocatively aggressive behavior, including its use of military force both near its borders and more widely in the world.
In addition, Estonia’s security is influenced by cross-border and asymmetric threats arising from all too often negative changes in the living environment, social inequality, and countries’ inability to provide the necessary sense of security to their citizens, the document states.
“Fundamentals of Estonian Security Policy 2017” is a strategic development document that formulates the key goals and principles of the country’s security policy, and reflects the areas that are of importance to national security.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: BNS