The national platform Nadiyno will help Ukrainians with digital security

On Tuesday, November 8, in Kyiv, Internews Ukraine presented the online platform NADIYNO, a free tool to support Ukrainians in digital security.

The resource is designed to increase digital literacy and overcome current online threats to individuals. It provides advice on protecting personal data and devices, ready-made solutions for difficult situations, and verified timely recommendations. In addition, users will be able to get support from hotline operators and other digital security specialists via a chat or through a contact form. The platform is currently in beta testing.

The NADIYNO platform will answer the digital challenges that have become particularly evident during the full-scale war. "In October 2022, we carried out an assessment of Ukrainians' digital needs.*64% of respondents had crises related to online security. 55% of respondents had below-average digital skills. And the popular messengers such as Viber, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger are the least secure and worst suited for transmitting sensitive information," explained the project's manager, Kateryna Tsybenko.

Residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine can also seek help from NADIYNO specialists. There are recommendations on the site that will be useful to them, including which messengers to use, how to prepare for a smartphone check, and how to avoid eavesdropping while in occupied territory.

"Ukrainian mobile operators do not work in the occupied territories, and SIM-cards of Russian mobile operators are issued by passport. It is dangerous to discuss military or political issues. The occupiers often gain access to the devices and accounts of residents, enabling them to maintain accounts and make fake posts," experts from the NGO Internews Ukraine note.

The organization is operating the platform as part of the project "Digital emergency support of the civil society in Ukraine" with the support of the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through eQualitie Inc.

"Canada has allocated $15 million for its security and stabilization programming in Ukraine since February 2022," says Tamara Romas Figol, First Secretary of the International Development Section of the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine. "This is in addition to $96 million in development assistance funding to Ukraine for emerging priorities identified by government and civil society, and urgent food security needs."

Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation and the national project Diia.Digital education are also the information partners of the platform.

"We are in the world's first cyber war, where the aggressor uses technology, propaganda, disinformation, and digital tools as real weapons. The enemy is not ignoring personal data, putting Ukrainians and their online security under attack. That is why we support online security tools that our citizens can use, and the better they are, the safer our online space becomes, and the stronger and more indestructible Ukrainians will be in the digital environment.," says the chief specialist of the Ministry's Directorate of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Yaroslava Dyo.

The Digital Needs Assessment study was conducted in October 2022 and included 12 in-depth interviews and 1,047 online surveys. The study presents four target audiences: representatives of the media and NGOs from the unoccupied territories and those who evacuated to the unoccupied territory; representatives of charitable and volunteer foundations and initiatives that help the army, and paramilitary organizations from non-occupied territories and those who evacuated to non-occupied territory; representatives of women's groups (in particular associations of wives/mothers of military or veterans), human rights defenders, public organizations of any profile, where the leaders are women from unoccupied territories and those who evacuated to unoccupied territory; and residents of the occupied territories with whom contact has been maintained or those who have recently left the occupied territory and have experience of living in the occupation.