On February 7 and 8, the Kyiv International Cybersecurity Forum 2024, dedicated to cyber security issues, was held in the capital. Both Ukrainian officials and representatives of the US State Department, NATO countries and the EU took part in this event.
The Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, emphasized that our country needs to strengthen its development in cyberspace. During a meeting with American partners, he discussed cooperation in the field of cyber security.
Fedorov recalled that Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 began precisely from cyberspace: on January 14, 2022, there were large-scale attacks on the websites of state institutions. According to the minister, more than 5,000 cyber incidents have been recorded in Ukraine today.
“The enemy continues to develop and intensify attacks – not only on the public sector, but also on the private sector. Russia introduces specialized subjects in its universities on how to attack a specific sphere of Ukraine. That is, the enemy is constantly thinking about how to strike in cyberspace,” noted Mykhailo Fedorov.
Additionally, he emphasized that “the digital state survived because we regularly strengthened cyber resilience.”
Mykhailo Fedorov held a meeting with the US Ambassador with Special Powers for Cyberspace Nathaniel Feek and the head of the US Cyber Security and Infrastructure Protection Agency (CISA) Jen Easterly. During the meeting, the “reliability of the Ukrainian digital infrastructure, in particular telecom” was discussed. Ukraine’s short- and long-term needs in the field of cyber defense were also announced.
The Minister added that the Tallinn Mechanism was launched in December 2023 — it is a tool for cooperation between 11 countries in cyberspace. At the same time, the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) is in constant contact with American partners and constantly exchanges information about cyber threats. In addition, the US Agency for International Development helps Ukraine to improve its cyber security level, helps with equipment and software.
The State Special Communications Service separately announced the strengthening of cooperation between Ukrainian and Estonian cyber security specialists. During the meeting, the prospects of strengthening cooperation between CERT-UA and a similar unit from Estonia, CERT-EE, were discussed. The key is to ensure effective and maximally operational two-way exchange of information on cyber threats, research results of cyber attacks, vulnerabilities in the protection of information systems, as well as exchange of experience in responding to the actions of Russian hackers.
