Case study
Technology alone cannot secure a government’s digital future, but trust in governance might be weaker without it. X-Road® helps governments regain control by strengthening trust between citizens and the state. Nortal has played a key role in building the digital foundation that keeps modern democracies running.
In the digital age, the notion of “conflict” is expanding, and cyberattacks are an unavoidable part of the world’s new digital reality. For some, they are a daily occurrence.
In 2007, Estonia suffered one of the first nationwide cyberattacks in the world. The massive assault, coming from Russia and aimed at destabilizing critical infrastructure, was a wake-up call for the young digital society. In response, Estonia swiftly enacted new cybersecurity laws, strengthened regulations, and invested heavily in improving digital infrastructure resiliency. This was a prescient move because cyberattacks never ceased.
Estonia stands as one of the most cyber-targeted nations in the world, yet it has also become one of the most cyber-resilient and advanced digital nations. Despite relentless attempts to breach its systems, the country has maintained uninterrupted digital services. In most cases, Estonian residents have not been aware that the nation was under assault. What’s behind Estonia’s resilience? Strategic foresight, robust digital governance and a technological backbone designed for both security and scalability. At the core of it all is X-Road.
Secure decentralized data exchange was the core principle for designing X-Road, and its architecture makes it inherently resilient in times of disruption. Built as a core component of Estonia’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) in 2001, X-Road was designed to enable secure, seamless, and efficient data exchange between government institutions and also with the private sector.
Estonia’s ability to maintain uninterrupted digital services despite constant cyber threats has not only secured its own governance but has also positioned it as a model for others. As governments worldwide face similar challenges, many have turned to Estonia’s digital infrastructure for guidance.
Today, X-Road is far more than a domestic solution—it has become a global de facto standard for secure data interoperability facilitated by governments. It has been adopted in more than 25 countries and territories, providing a robust foundation for secure data exchange across diverse regulatory environments. In Estonia alone, up to thousands of public and private sector organizations integrate with the local X-Road ecosystem called “X-tee” (X-Road’s original name in Estonian), leveraging its built-in security and efficiency to streamline operations and enhance citizen services. Among others, Ukraine has implemented a data-sharing ecosystem with a model similar to X-Road, known as Trembita, ensuring secure and uninterrupted digital government operations – even in times of crisis.
While X-Road’s success is now global, its origins are deeply rooted in Estonia’s need to build an entirely new state from the ground up after regaining independence in 1991. The country was faced with the problem of having no systems at all—no digital infrastructure, no administration, no legal code—it was organizational chaos. But the nation did have visionary leaders, plus a host of engineers and cryptographers. It took the digital path.
The X-Road ecosystem in Estonia is operated by the Information System Authority. X-Road has been in use for over two decades and made the nation a digital showcase, leading many to call it “the most digital society on earth.”
From its inception, X-Road has been more than just a digital backbone—it is a cornerstone of Estonia’s cyber-resilience. Despite persistent cyber threats, including repeated attacks from Russian-linked actors, for over two decades, there has been no known major X-Road security breach or data leak. In its entire operational history in Estonia, X-Road has experienced only brief, partial disruptions affecting only individual services—an impressive track record for a nationwide digital infrastructure.
At its inception in 2001, Estonian engineers designed X-Road to enable secure, cost-efficient data exchange within the government while minimizing system integration complexity. Rather than creating isolated connections between government agencies, Estonia developed a standardized, reusable infrastructure that operates securely over the public Internet. This approach ensured data sovereignty while enabling seamless interoperability between both public and private sector systems.
In 2013, the Prime Ministers of Estonia and Finland signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on “developing and maintaining a software environment enabling secure connectivity, searches and data transfers between various governmental and private databases.” A couple of years later, in 2015, Finland adopted the system, and in 2017, Estonia and Finland further strengthened their cooperation by establishing the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) to oversee the development of X-Road as an open-source solution.
As of December 2024, Estonia has achieved 100% digitalization of its government services, an unprecedented milestone in digital governance. In recent years, the country has rapidly advanced in the United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), rising from 16th place in 2018 to 2nd in 2024. This achievement is more than just an improved ranking—it underscores the efficiency of Estonia’s digital public infrastructure, with X-Road at its core.
X-Road’s impact goes far beyond the Nordic countries. As digital governance becomes a global necessity, nations worldwide are turning to X-Road for its security, efficiency, and trust-building power.
Beyond enabling seamless and secure data exchange, X-Road has far-reaching effects across multiple domains. From driving economic efficiency and strengthening trust through transparency to ensuring data sovereignty and promoting sustainable interoperability, its impact is reshaping how governments operate in the digital age.
Although the exact economic impact of X-Road is difficult to measure, its benefits are undeniable. Estonia’s X-Road ecosystem processes approximately 295 million requests per month, with only 3% triggered by direct citizen interactions. If each request behind these interactions saves just 10 minutes, Estonia recovers an estimated 1.48 million hours of working time every month—an impressive gain for a nation with a relatively small population. The true efficiency boost is even greater, as most requests are machine-to-machine interactions that eliminate the need for manual processing. Across Estonia and other countries, X-Road has enabled automation and real-time data processing, increasing process efficiency more than fivefold in various sectors.
The platform has also fostered robust public-private partnerships in Estonia by connecting around 1,000 institutions and enterprises, ultimately extending its value to an additional 52,000 organizations. The impact of X-Road can be seen not only within the nations that use it but also with their trading partners. With its Trust Federation feature, X-Road also facilitates cross-border data exchange, which is particularly beneficial for countries with close economic ties. The X-Road federation between Estonia and Finland allows for interoperability between their data exchange layers yet supports a complete interdependence between their economies. The federated data exchange smooths public service provision to citizens, workers, and entrepreneurs operating across borders.
X-Road’s impact goes beyond service delivery—it has become a foundation for trust between citizens and the state. When services are provided proactively, without requiring citizens to request them, efficiency becomes a trust-building tool. By ensuring individuals receive benefits and services as soon as they become eligible, X-Road plays a crucial role in shaping a more responsive and citizen-centric government.
Beyond automation, X-Road has redefined transparency, accountability and the equitable use of personal data in digital governance. By unifying data exchange with X-Road, Estonia also introduced a data tracker that allows citizens to see who has accessed their personal data and for what purpose, enhancing transparency and control. This mechanism strengthens public trust by making errors and potential misuse both visible and reportable. Each transaction within the X-Road ecosystem is timestamped, cryptographically signed, and logged to ensure integrity while preserving privacy—no log data is shared with the governing entity, ensuring that sensitive data remains secure while tampering of the logs is made impossible. Only metadata (header) is collected and published as open data, with query and response content remaining private between the parties.
The open-source nature of X-Road further reinforces trust, allowing independent verification of its security and functionality.
X-Road plays a vital role in promoting sustainability by allowing governments to optimize resource use and enable secure, efficient data exchange with energy-efficient infrastructure. By reducing the need for dedicated, resource-intensive private networks and leveraging existing public Internet infrastructure, X-Road minimizes redundancy and enhances resource utilization across multiple stakeholders.
Cloud-based Security Servers (software components acting as access points to the X-Road ecosystem) can further improve X-Road’s sustainability by reducing energy consumption by up to 88 per cent compared to on-premises solutions, benefiting from efficient resource allocation and energy-efficient data centres. Since X-Road is a cloud-ready solution, organizations can seamlessly transition to cloud environments to enhance both environmental and operational efficiency.
With a long-term vision of becoming the world’s most sustainable data exchange solution of its kind, X-Road aims to align with global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and support eco-friendly digital transformation.
The adoption of X-Road has accelerated Estonia’s public sector digitalization efforts by providing a consistent framework that simplifies system integration and addresses complex technical challenges such as secure data exchange, encryption, and audit trails. By using X-Road as the primary integration channel, development teams can save significant time by reusing a proven solution for data exchange.
X-Road also strengthens security, compliance, and resilience by providing a comprehensive framework that aligns with industry best practices, including Zero Trust principles and data integrity assurance. Furthermore, it fosters innovation by simplifying collaboration across software teams, allowing them to focus on impactful solutions while providing access to shared services and interoperable solutions that promote partnerships between government agencies and private sector stakeholders.
X-Road ensures strong data sovereignty by employing a decentralized architecture that allows organizations to retain full control over their data and data access services. Every information system owner operates through a dedicated access point component—an X-Road Security Server—preserving sovereignty and enforcing strict access controls. Government entities maintain ownership of their data while defining who can access it and under what conditions, reinforcing security and autonomy. This approach also eliminates reliance on central intermediaries, as data is transferred directly between the data provider and the consumer. The end-to-end encryption mechanism guarantees that data remains confidential and accessible only to its intended recipient, enhancing security and trust.
X-Road allows organizations to retain full control over their data exchange while ensuring compliance with both national and international data protection laws. Ultimately, this decentralized and secure model strengthens digital autonomy while fostering seamless and reliable data interoperability.
X-Road enhances cyber resilience through a combination of proven security measures—such as encryption and digital signing—alongside decentralized architecture and continuous security evaluations. Over several decades, X-Road’s security framework has successfully withstood numerous widespread cyber-attacks in Estonia, demonstrating its reliability and robustness. By leveraging X-Road’s established security foundation, development teams can focus on their core objectives without the burden of building security measures from scratch. To ensure ongoing protection against evolving threats, commercial cybersecurity specialists regularly assess the X-Road software through comprehensive evaluations, including architecture reviews, threat modelling, and penetration testing. A public bug bounty program further enhances X-Road’s security by ensuring continuous improvement and resilience.
The Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) provides X-Road as an open-source solution to support global digital development and promote equal access to digital infrastructure. X-Road is vetted by the Digital Public Goods Alliance to ensure it fulfils the criteria of a Digital Public Good. The NIIS has also cultivated an active international community of users and engineers, facilitating knowledge sharing and offering ongoing support to ensure the secure and efficient operation of the X-Road software worldwide. By fostering the open-source ethos, X-Road helps create a more inclusive and accessible digital environment.
Governments leveraging X-Road are already benefiting from its collaborative development model. Now, with Nortal’s support, the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) is taking X-Road to the next level—making it a robust data space solution. This advancement streamlines the adoption of data spaces, making it easier for the members of X-Road ecosystems to unlock new levels of interoperability and secure data exchange.
By leveraging globally recognized open-source technology, governments ensure interoperability, avoid licensing costs, remove reliance on proprietary solutions, and benefit from continuous innovation driven by an active international community. This makes X-Road not just a technology choice but a strategic enabler of long-term digital resilience and collaboration.
2,611
days (and counting) of uninterrupted operation
99%
of state services powered by X-Road
17.9+ B
transactions, with 2.4 billion more every year
2,589
years of citizen time saved each year
52,000
organizations leveraging X-Road services
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