Estonian foreign ministry not worried about minister losing his smart device
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not consider the tablet left on a plane by Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna to pose a security risk as the device did not contain sensitive information.
According to the ministry's media adviser Kerstin Meresma, the device in question was used for taking notes. She added that the ministry does not use any mobile devices that provide access to state secrets.
Under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' security protocol, no threat was identified in connection with the tablet lost by Tsahkna.
"Given the nature of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' work and the frequency of foreign travel, there have previously been cases where, due to human error, a device is briefly left unattended or goes missing," Meresma said.
The adviser added that if a Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee loses a data storage device, it must be reported immediately to the ministry's information security department, which the minister did.
Meresma said that the hard drives of the ministry's devices are encrypted and remotely managed, meaning that the information on them can be deleted remotely if necessary.
According to Meresma, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot disclose the exact security protocol for lost data storage devices. Broadly speaking, however, the person who loses a device must report it to the ministry's information security team and explain how it went missing. The ministry's user support then checks the device's status via remote management and, if it is found, ensures that it is delivered powered off for technical inspection.
A social media post by Tsahkna on Tuesday revealed that the minister had forgotten the tablet on a plane in Amsterdam while transferring on a flight to Madrid. He was able to retrieve the recovered device from a flight attendant on the onward flight.
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Editor: Märten Hallismaa, Marcus Turovski
