Speaker – Ms Heli Tiirmaa–Klaar
Ms Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar
Chair of the UDCG IT Coalition Steering Group,
Estonian Ministry of Defence
Estonia
Biography
Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar is the chair of the Steering Group of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group IT Coalition, a multinational IT and cyber defense assistance format. She also chairs the board of directors at the Global Cyber Alliance.
From 2018 to 2021, she served as ambassador for cyber diplomacy and director general of the Department of Cyber Diplomacy at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she led Estonia’s efforts to promote norms and international law to guide the behavior of states in their cyber activities. She also contributed to several UN working groups on cybersecurity.
Prior to that, she worked as head of the Cyber Policy Coordination Unit at the European External Action Service, where she led and coordinated EU external relations on cyber issues and co-led the preparation of European Cybersecurity Strategies. She established EU strategic cyber dialogues with the US, India, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and a number of international organizations. She also launched the EU’s global cyber capacity-building programs and led the development of the EU Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox to strengthen the EU’s response to malicious cyber activity. In 2011, she was assigned to the NATO International Staff to prepare NATO’s Cyber Defence Policy.
From 2008 to 2010, she coordinated the implementation of the Estonian Cybersecurity Strategy, managed the National Cybersecurity Council, and led the establishment of Estonia’s national cyber resilience structures and public-private partnerships for cybersecurity. Earlier in her career, she held various senior positions in the Estonian Ministry of Defence and the University of Tallinn. She was a Fulbright Scholar at George Washington University and has published in several academic journals throughout her career.