On July 3rd, the Ukrainian parliament voted to recommend that the national government cease using Russian-created software in state agencies. The move is billed as being in the interests of national security, as software created in Russia may carry cyber threats, Ukrainian lawmakers believe.
The bill, which was proposed by MPs Oleksandr Mochkov from Udar and Valeriy Omelchenko from Party of Regions, requires that the state inform the parliament about progress regarding implementation by December 1, 2014.
Kaspersky Labs, the Russian security software publisher which provides anti-virus software to the Ukrainian government, stated that their software undergoes regular checks to ensure that it conforms to local regulations and that they intend to continue to do so.
As part of its efforts to wean itself off of foreign software, the Ukrainian government is currently considering ways to create a national operating-system and antivirus software. Options under consideration include creating a system from scratch, adopting an existing open-source system, or delivering reliable protection against the leakage of information through a current OS.
The parliament has also instructed the government to create a unified agency for the development of the country’s IT industry. The adopted measures aim to speed the establishment of a national 4G network, establish a national IT depository to backup critical state data, promote interest in IT among primary-school students, provide greater protection against cyber threats against major state assets, and more.
