Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on June 7 signed a decree on creating a national cybersecurity center. The decree takes effect from June 8, the date of its official publication.
According to the decree, the center is to coordinate its activities with the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine to implement the Ukrainian Cybersecurity Strategy that the NSDC proposed on Jan. 27 and which Poroshenko approved on March 15.
NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov will act as the head of the National Cybersecurity Center, which the decree states is to “increase the efficiency of public administration in the development and implementation of state policy in the field of cybersecurity.”
The administration of center will be carried out by Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Hrytsak, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Chief of the Defense Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine Valery Kondratyuk, and other security and defense officials.
The center is to analyze the state of national cybersecurity, its preparedness for combating cyber-threats, provide financial and organizational support for cybersecurity programs and activities, forecast and detect potential and actual threats to cybersecurity, study international experience in the sphere, and participate in organizing and holding international and interdepartmental cybersecurity training.
Requests from the center must be considered by the government, local authorities, military units, enterprises, institutions and organizations, on a mandatory basis.
The Ukrainian cybersecurity strategy was produced by the NSDC following a cyberattack on the power grid in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in December 2015, which plunged about 230,000 Ukrainians into darkness for six hours after hackers inserted malware into the computerized control systems of part of the oblast’s electricity grid.
Ukraine blamed Russia for the attack, and the malware used, BlackEnergy, has its origins in Russia, according to experts. However, there is no definitive link between the cyberattack and the Russian government, according to U.S. officials.
This story first appeared in the Kyiv Post, a syndication partner of Ukraine Digital News.
