April 24-25, 2023, the American Keck Center of the National Academies held the Forum on Cyber Resilience. Yegor Dubynskyi (Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine), Andrew Paziuk (CEO Cyber Diia Platform, Associate Professor at Taras Shevchenko National University) and Igor Linkov (Senior Scientific Technical Manager, US Army Corps of Engineers Adjunct Professor ) were invited to present Ukrainian resilience during the war.
Human Resilience in the Face of Disaster :
Since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has deliberately targeted the country's infrastructures with the aim of destroying its ability to resist and reducing the morale of its population.
In response to long-term power outages, more then 9 500 points of invincibility have been set up across the country. They are available 24/7 and provide free access to light, heat, internet and chargers, as well as a simple place to rest with first aid supplies, snacks and hot drinks.
Cyber Resilience :
The Russian invader did not just destroy the vital physical infrastructures of Ukraine, from the preparation of the invasion, they also targeted the digital infrastructure of the country. Ukraine’s telecom and digital sector is a crucial part of the country’s service industry, including the IT and start-up scenes.
Cyber espionage, destructive and influence operations were clearly connected to support and enable more efficient on-the-ground operations during the planning and active phases of the invasion. To implement this strategy, Russian State sponsored many hackers groups such as Strontium sponsored by the GRU or Bromine sponsored by the FSB.
We were able to draw some lessons from this cyber warfare :
- Cyberattacks make up an essential component of Russia’s warfare against Ukraine.
- Technical vulnerabilities are a key source of hazard alonside phishing.
- Hackers are attacking all the institutions they can reach.
- Hackers that carry out « quiet »operations are the most dangerous.
The results of these cyber attacks and bombings are heavy :
- 26% of telecom infrastructure were destroyed
- Estimated direct damage is $2,5B according to the World Bank
To deal with this destruction, the Ukrainian government has taken a number of measures to ensure the crucial resilience of the country's cyber infrastructure :
- After the missiles attacks on State back-up data center in Kyiv, the government decided the migration of more than 100 state and critical information registers to clouds (Google, AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, Oracle and Polish Government)
- Creating an investment plan for recovery including a “build back better” for more than $ 4,5B.
- The continuation of the Diia project which aims to allow 100% public services available online, automatic services without interaction with official for 40 M Ukrainians. This platform already used by millions of Ukrainians allows a reengineering and a total simplification of services.
All these measures should make it possible to respond to major challenges in rebuilding the country better including :
- To rebuild of the infrastructures damaged during the war
- To ensure the resilience and to protect against the security threats
- To get rid of the inefficiency of public administration
- To solve the problem of lack of data BI governance to deliver input for decisions
To be a success, the reconstruction of Ukraine will have to be both data-driven and involve local stakeholders and their needs. Following this method, thinking the reconstruction in terms of systems and networks involving individuals and organizations, government driven and market driven topics, Ukraine will succeed to recover from this war and to seize economic opportunities for its people.
