Siim Alatalu
Estonia
Head of EU CyberNet project Estonian Information System Authority
LinkedIn
Siim Alatalu joined the Estonian Information System Authority in August 2019 and is in charge of implementing the EU CyberNet - the European Union Cyber Capacity Building Network project (IFS/2019/405-538).
His prior professional career in cyber security includes an almost five-year tenure at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). As the CCDCOE’s Head of International Relations, his primary role was to lead the development of its relations with a growing network of partners from governments, military, academia and industry, overseeing its enlargement to an international organisation with currently 25 member countries. In 2018 he joined the Centre’s Strategy Branch, being in charge of cyber strategy and policy research and training related to NATO and the European Union, as well as providing subject matter expertise to the Centre’s other flagship projects.
Between 2001 and 2014 Siim mostly worked for the Estonian Ministry of Defence (the most recent positions being the Deputy Director for policy planning (including cyber security); and Deputy Director of NATO and European Union Department before that). In 2008 - 2011 he served as a diplomat at the Estonian Delegation to NATO in Brussels, Belgium. During the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017, he also co-led the development of EU’s cyber policy and strategy, being the Vice Chair of the Council’s Horizontal Working Party for Cyber Issues (HWP).
Siim Alatalu is a graduate of the Maxwell School of Syracuse University (Master of Arts in International Relations in 2006, as a Fulbright fellow), as well as of the Baltic Defence College (Higher Command Studies Course 2011) and the University of Tartu (B.A. in history in 2001). He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the Tallinn University of Technology.
