Tallinn, Creative Hub, 9 May 2018 – Estonia depends on e-services more than any other country and therefore, it is important to share our experiences in Europe and the world, so that we could learn from them and be better prepared for future challenges, said Prime Minister Jüri Ratas in his opening speech at The Lessons We Learned, an international conference dedicated to the ID-card security risk.
The aim of the event is to bring together experts and opinion leaders from the public and private sector to analyse the lessons learned during the discovery and elimination of the ID-card safety risk as well as develop the next steps.
“The success story of an e-government can only be based on cooperation. It means strong IT specialists of the private sector, researchers at universities, and a smart state that uses their knowledge,” Ratas said. He emphasised that people are the deciding factor in the process of resolving a crisis. “If we wish to move forward with our IT systems in addition to maintaining them and fixing old mistakes, we need to invest much more than before – not only in systems, but also in people. Competent people are the key here – this was definitely one of the most important lessons from the crisis,” the prime minister said.
According to Ratas, we successfully defeated the biggest challenge in the history of our digital country. This is confirmed by the fact that no one was able to exploit the temporary vulnerability of the ID-cards before a solution was found and the people’s trust in e-voting as well as other e-services remained high. Regardless, defenders of the cyberspace cannot afford a single day of standing still. “Security risks are a challenge of the digital world, which the entire world, including Estonia, has to consider at all times. This means that we must fix mistakes when they are discovered, learn from them, and look for better and smarter solutions. It means proactive work to always be one step ahead in terms of security,” the prime minister emphasised.
In his speech, Prime Minister Ratas once again expressed his gratitude towards the research facilities, companies, and state authorities as well as all the experts who helped to provide a successful solution to the ID-card security risk.
Photos from the conference: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yvqnum7akjnm5dl/AAA17gocVaxXVY31QHfaOvgHa?dl=0
