Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Slovakia signed the agreement, while the United States signed aboard as an observer of the effort.
That evaluation led to the Allied Defense Ministers report in October, which recommended the establishment of a NATO cyberdefense policy and a number of new measures to improve the countries’ cyberattack defense. The allied nations agreed to the policy earlier this year.
Last spring, Estonia’s public and private institutions were hit with a major denial of service attack over a two-month period. That, in turn, prompted NATO to re-evaluate its cyberdefense strategy.
Seven NATO allies signed an agreement Wednesday to open a cyberdefense center in Estonia, according to the Associated Press.
The center, which is scheduled to become operational in August, is designed to offer training and research on cyberterrorism and simulate cyberwar games, the report states. The NATO allies will kick in funding and a staff of 30 cyberexperts to operate the center.