After 162 days of Russia’s Ukraine invasion, followed by a series of cyberattacks that wiped entire systems of over 70 Ukrainian government websites, Ukraine has pledged to advance its cyber workforce with support from the U.S. The U.S. and Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) this week to collaborate on ‘shared cybersecurity.’ The MOC was signed between the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Ukraine State Service Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP). This MOC contains strategies to increase cyber security training, joint exercises, critical infrastructure security technical exchanges, information exchanges, and sharing of best practices on cyber threats.
The increased number of cyber-attacks in Ukraine in the first quarter decreased by 8.5 times as compared to the second quarter of the year. This is because of the tools updated on their systems. This MOC is expected to prevent the number of increasing malicious activities on Ukrainian websites.
Talking about this Memorandum, Oleksandr Potii, Deputy Chairman of SSSCIP, said, “This memorandum of cooperation represents an enduring partnership and alignment in defending our shared values through increased real-time information sharing across agencies and critical sectors and committed collaboration in cultivating a resilient partnership.” Jen Easterly, the Director of CISA, said, “I am incredibly pleased to sign this MOC to deepen our cybersecurity collaboration with our Ukrainian partners.”
Better information exchange is expected between the two nations to offer more robust cybersecurity. After receiving help from other countries like Croatia, Estonia, and the Netherlands, the United States of America has come forward to aid the war-affected Ukraine.
Ukraine’s government websites were hacked on January 14. “The hacks gave us some lessons in terms of how to respond, how to coordinate. So, it was a good exercise for us,” said Victor Zhora, deputy head of Ukraine’s central cybersecurity agency, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, in an interview with the staff of the Washington Post.
