Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence
The Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE) mission is to enhance the capability, cooperation and information sharing among NATO, NATO nations and Partners in cyber defence by virtue of education, research and development, lessons learned and consultation.The CCD COE vision is to be the main source of expertise in the field of cooperative cyber defence by accumulating, creating, and disseminating knowledge in related matters within NATO, NATO nations and Partners.
One year after government websites in EU state Estonia were crippled by a series of cyber attacks,NATO has moved to set up a centre on cyber defence in the country's capital,Tallinn
The need for a cyber defence centre to be opened today is compelling,general James Mattis in charge of NATO's transformation efforts,said after the ceremony,adding that the centre "will help the alliance defy and successfully counter the threats in this area.
The centre - due to be up and running in August, but formally opened in 2009 - will conduct research and training on cyber warfare. It will have a staff of 30 people, half of them IT specialists from seven founding countries.The United States will join the project as an observer, while other NATO allies are free to step in later.
The project is a direct response to three weeks of systematic cyber-attacks on Estonia's government and private websites in April and May 2007 - something Tallinn claims was orchestrated by Moscow in response to a dispute involving a Soviet-era monument.
The Baltic state had moved a bronze statue of a soldier from central Tallinn to a military cemetery. The Bronze Soldier was erected by the then Soviet authorities in 1947 and is seen by many Russians as a testament to the Soviet Union's painful contribution to the World War II effort.But it is regarded by most Estonians as a symbol of 20th century Soviet oppression.
"We know how difficult it is to defend the sovereignty of our land and sea borders, and air space," Estonian Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo was cited as saying by AP.
