Estonia helps European Space Agency with cybersecurity

This week, several Estonian companies signed an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to cooperate in cybersecurity.

The joint virtual proving ground project will allow Estonian Spaceit, CybExer Technologies, CGI Estonia and the University of Tartu to test their satellite technologies before launching into space. The project will be coordinated by the Estonian Space Agency, which is part of Enterprise Estonia, a state agency that promotes regional business. 

The virtual training site will open in 2026 at CR14, an Estonian cybersecurity foundation that runs NATO's cyber defense training centers. ESA will invest more than €2.5M in the project.

According to Laurent Jaffard, ESA's director of connectivity and secure communications, the project is especially relevant now that the number of cyberattacks has skyrocketed. Over the past five years, they have posed a real threat to critical systems operating via satellite communications.

Spaceit is a space technology company providing a cloud-based mission management platform and ground station services. The company was founded in 2015 in Tartu, Estonia, by Silver Lodi, Lauri Kimmel and Mihkel Jalakas.

CybExer Technologies is an Estonian cybersecurity company. Founded in 2016 by Andrus Kivisaar, Aare Reintam, Mikhel Piiroso and Lauri Almann.

CGI Estonia is an IT company, part of the international CGI Group. It was founded in 1996 and has offices in Tallinn and Tartu.