International Cyber Terrorism

anking and mobile phone networks to government services and access to health care
information was disabled for a time. The tech-dependent state experienced severe
turmoil and there was a great deal of concern over the nature and intent of the attack.
The cyber attack was a result of an Estonian-Russian dispute over the removal of a
bronze statue depicting a World War II-era Soviet soldier from the center of the capital,
Tallinn. In the midst of the armed conflict with Russia, Georgia likewise was subject to
sustained and coordinated attacks on its electronic infrastructure in August 2008. In
both of these cases, circumstantial evidence point to coordinated Russian attacks, but
attribution of the attacks is difficult; though both the countries blame Moscow for
contributing to the cyber attacks, proof establishing legal culpability is lacking.
Estonia joined NATO in 2004, which prompted NATO to carefully monitor its member
state's response to the attack. NATO also feared escalation and the possibility of
cascading effects beyond Estonia's border to other NATO members. In 2008, directly as
a result of the attacks, NATO opened a new center of excellence on cyber-defense to
conduct research and training on cyber warfare in Tallinn.
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