Solutions to win: UK boosts Ukraine's cyber defense with $20,5 mln support package
Great Britain will allocate 16 million pounds ($20.48 million) to Ukraine to strengthen the cyber defense, exceeding the amount of the previous package, says PM Rishi Sunak.
What is the problem?
Over the past year, the number of cyber attacks in the world as a whole has increased by an average of 50%.
The most common targets of hackers were the government, financial sectors, and media, with about 2,600 attacks per week, which is 44% more than in 2021.
The war on the Ukrainian cyber front began in 2014 when Russia launched a large-scale DDoS attack on the Darnytsia thermal power plant in Kyiv.
Over time, there were more such attacks. Three days after Russia's February invasion, cyberattacks on Ukraine's state-military sector increased by 196% compared to the pre-war time in 2022.
Russia's horrendous attacks on Ukraine are not limited to a barbaric invasion of the country's territory, but also include heinous attempts to attack the cyber infrastructure that provides vital services, from banking to energy, to the innocent Ukrainian population, Sunak said.
What is the solution?
This decision follows Ukraine's another counteroffensive against Russia, in addition to the £6.35m ($8.1m) package pledged last year. Another £9m ($11.51m) can potentially come from international allies, SkyNews, citing Sunak, reported.
How does it work?
This package will be able to help Ukraine protect critical national infrastructure from Russian attacks when Ukrainian soldiers continue to push the enemy out of occupied territories.
Britain has consistently supported Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war. In particular, the country was the first to announce the transfer of modern Western tanks and long-range missiles to the military.
The state has also become a leader in the training of Ukrainian pilots on Western fighter jets. Despite having no American F-16 fighters in its arsenal, London agreed to launch training for Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukrainian cyber strategy became a big surprise for the world. By this time, Russia had an advantage because it had the most famous APT groups on its side. However, Ukraine formed a powerful cyber army in a matter of days.
In the first days of the full-scale war, the "IT army" group consisted of 175 thousand volunteers from all over the world, from white hackers and hacktivists to representatives of such technology companies as Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Even the world-famous Anonymous Collective stood for Ukraine, promising to act against Russia in cyberspace.
At the same time, Ukrainians called on underground forums in social media to help protect Ukrainian cyberspace. The channel is still active and has about 262,000 members. Successful attacks against Russia are now being posted there.
Western experts note the process of creating a state-funded cyber army as an unprecedented case. Never before has a government succeeded in recruiting unbiased citizens to a global volunteer organization.
