They’re not robocops from the movies, but 84 graduates of a special four-month cyberpolice course, who on July 17 started serving in Kharkiv at a special police department devoted to online law enforcement and security.
The 84 new cybercops include 20 special IT agents and 64 inspectors who will “ensure the online security of every citizen of Ukraine,” form the “image of the nation’s law enforcement in the international cyber arena,” and “fight cybercrime,” the National Police says.
The cyberpolice will create a register of, and block, all illegal content accessible in Ukraine over the internet, including pornography, malware, phishing resources, and any content that breaks intellectual property law.
All of the graduates have a higher education. Twenty of them have law degrees, while 20 others have served in Armed Forces of Ukraine. Three of the cyber officers are veterans of the war in eastern Ukraine.
The 84 newly graduated cyberpolice officers assemble on July 16 in Kharkiv, Ukraine (photo by npu.gov.ua).
“Cybersecurity is an important sector for the National Police,” Khatia Dekanoidze, the chief of the Ukrainian National Police, wrote on her Facebook account after the cybercops graduated. “We’ve been searching for these lads for a long time, and they went through a serious selection process.”
The cyber police has launched its own official website: cybercrime.gov.ua.
The cyberpolice will partner with international organizations such as the OSCE, FBI, NCA, European Commission, Interpol and others.
There was a rush of applications for places on the cybercop training course: after the first day of acceptance of applications, on Oct. 16, 2015, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov said that there were 2,582 applicants for the position of inspector, while 798 people had applied to train as special agents.
The cybercop course selection process finished in March this year, after which training commenced.
This story first appeared in the Kyiv Post, a syndication partner of Ukraine Digital News.
