In her presentation, Liina Areng explained how cybersecurity today requires whole-of-society approach by drawing examples from EU and its member’s legal and regulatory frameworks as well as from EU funded cyber capacity building initiatives like EU CyberNet.

Liina Areng highlighted how comprehensive frameworks like EU’s NIS2, Cyber Resilience Act, Cybersecurity Act, Cyber Solidarity Act, Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) or General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establish a strong legal foundation for coordinated prevention, preparedness and response. Liina Areng also referred to Estonia’s national information security standard (E-ITS) as an example how regulatory principles are translated into practical guidance for institutions and service providers.

Moving from regulation to partnership, Liina Areng emphasised the importance of proactive government engagement with the private sector through audits, risk management guidance, awareness-raising initiatives and structured information sharing. She also underscored how trusted partnerships, community-building and executive-level training strengthen both resilience and innovation.

She noted that whole-of-society approach is complex web of people, technologies, institutions, legal frameworks, supply chains, critical infrastructure operators that requires strengthening prevention and preparedness, enabling coordinated and layered incident response, supporting recovery and long-term resilience. This, in turn, depends on trust, international cooperation, shared situational awareness and continuous knowledge sharing with partners.

Furthermore, Liina Areng demonstrated how Estonia’s layered incident response model of bringing together CERT-EE, government IT centres and volunteers contributes to enhanced shared situational awareness: inclusive cooperation and regular exercises ensure effective and coordinated responses across the entire digital ecosystem.

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eucybernet/albums/72177720332313606/

The Tallinn Cyber Diplomacy Winter School is organised by the e-Governance Academy in cooperation with the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia and the National Cyber Security Agency of Thailand. Together, the partners aim to promote EU values and advance a free, open, secure and resilient cyberspace through strengthened international cooperation and shared expertise.