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Data Embassy – the digital continuity of a state

data embassy

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Nobody wants to imagine the worst-case scenario, but victory loves preparation. So, try to picture a situation where a cyber-attack, natural disaster or even war would compromise the functioning of a state – all these are considerable threats also to countries that have a less advanced digital infrastructure than Estonia. How to make sure that all crucial citizen and governance-related data is safe in situations like these? This is where the data embassy comes in.

Storing data outside our borders

Estonia is the first country in the world to establish a data embassy. It may sound futuristic, but it actually just means a secure data centre. In essence it’s an embassy without an ambassador and it’s located at a secure facility outside Estonia. While it has the highest security level for data centres, it’s not an embassy in the traditional diplomatic sense – it is something completely new under international law.

What’s inside?

As mentioned, it’s really just a data centre – on the visual side just imagine racks of servers. From the database side, ten strategically important datasets will be backed up into the data embassy. They currently are (in no particular order): e-file (court system), treasury information system, e-land registry, taxable person’s registry, business registry, population registry, State Gazette, identity documents registry, land cadastral registry, national pension insurance registry.

Want to know more? We’ve prepared a handy factsheet on the data embassy. You’ll find more factsheets on different e-Estonia topics in our Toolkit.

Contact

Visit us physically or virtually

We host impactful events both in our centre and online for government institutions, companies, and media. You’ll get an overview of e-Estonia’s best practices and build links to leading IT-service providers and state experts to support your digitalisation plans.

Questions? Have a chat with us.

Call us: +372 6273157 (business hours only)
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Find us

The Briefing Centre is conveniently located just 2 minutes drive from the airport and 7 minutes drive from the city centre.

You will find us on a ground floor of Valukoja 8, central entrance behind the statue of Mr Ernst Julius Öpik. Photo of the central entrance.

Valukoja 8
11415 Tallinn, Estonia