About ten days ago, several ministerial sites and the 3 most important Ukrainian banks were targeted by a massive cyber attack of the denial of access type, or DDOS. For nearly 24 hours, the communication capacities and services of these structures were thus paralyzed by this attack, the origin of which was attributed to groups of Russian hackers. In the current context of extreme tensions, the capacity for the Ukrainian authorities to maintain functional communication channels with the population and to maintain active banking services for the population, is as decisive as the operational military responses of its armed forces in order to resist. to potential aggression.
It is in this context that the European Union, through Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, announced the deployment of a team of cyber-specialists organized as a rapid reaction force, to assist the Ukrainian authorities in this critical area. This team is made up of a dozen cybersecurity experts belonging to PESCO's Cyber Rapid Response Team project. It will be led by Lithuania, with assistance from Croatia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania, and deployed at the request of the Ukrainian authorities. It will coordinate with Ukrainian cyber defense capabilities, acting across multiple spectrums to detect, identify and counter potential cyber attacks on the country's critical infrastructure.
It is worth noting that Ukraine also benefits from NATO assistance in this area. Kyiv had even applied to participate in the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence of the Alliance, in order to increase the capacities of cooperation and response between the alliance and the country. However, since Hungary opposed this request at the beginning of the year, the request had to be rejected, and the capacities for cooperation with the Atlantic Alliance remained less in this area, provoking the ire of several European countries and Ukrainian authorities themselves.
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