State must be better prepared for e-crises

TALLINN - The state must be better prepared for e-crises, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said after a discussion of problems related to the electronic ID-card by the National Defense Council on Friday.

"In 2017, bits and bytes are part of our society's bloodstream and the functioning of the state," Kaljulaid said according to spokespeople. "And it is fair to admit that the readiness of the state and the authorities to deal with the problem was not what it should and could have been. We did not know quite precisely ourselves how much our beloved e-state depends on the reliability of one or another component."

The National Defense Council discussed solving the problems related to the ID-card security risk and searched for ways how to be better prepared for situations like this in the future.

According to the president, this crisis has has amply demonstrated that there is no alternative to e-state for the people of Estonia. "If one thing has become clear to us during the recent weeks, it' that queuing up at offices is not something that our people would like to return to. Consequently, we must make our e-state better and more reliable still. There are not many that we can learn from, because no other digital societies exist in this form. We must be the pioneers, and in the end we will come out of this stronger," Kaljulaid said. She said that the National Defense Council agreed about specific tasks and activities and will gather again three months from now to review how far we have come.

The head of state voiced her appreciation of all officials, specialists and politicians who have been busy solving the problem in the past few months.

"I know that this may not be the most popular opinion in this country, and not everything has gone as we wanted, but I know that many people have made a lot of effort in the past months. No matter what time of the day or the day of the week it is, or what their potential vote tally will be [in the next elections]."