Liisa Past

"I work with a small but incredibly diverse team that has experienced a fair amount of change in the last few years. Figuring out how we work together and have each other’s backs is the absolute professional highlight of the year. Every single team member is clever, takes responsibility and is dedicated to the bigger picture. While we have a lot of challenges ahead, this is a great foundation to build on."

"Our focus at the IT and Development Centre at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior for 2022 is to improve cyber security situational awareness across the organisations we serve. This means starting to build a virtual security operations centre that supports decision making across the board from 24/7 event triage to top leadership."

"I draw inspiration from those driving change in the infosec/cyber security field and my colleagues, past and present. In this incredibly dynamic sector, we need to be able to learn from one another."

"I would not be the professional I am without my past colleagues from the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence that afforded me the luxury of asking (often not very clever) questions from some of the leading researchers in cyber security."

"In all seriousness, I do find that a morning routine is incredibly helpful in getting the day started and mine involves freshly ground light roast beans and a V60 filter."

"Professionally, I’m driven by the meaning of the work and have been so throughout my career. Apologies for it sounding a little cliché, but I get up to make a meaningful impact on the world in any little way."

"Estonia is in the midst of a parliamentary election. With election day this Sunday, almost 40% of voters have already cast their preference during the early voting period. Most of them i-Voted, submitting their ballot online, writes Liisa Past."