NATO Providing Cybersecurity Equipment To Ukraine

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Security Week

Ukraine is an area of great geopolitical significance -- a sort of buffer zone between NATO and Russia -- that both sides seek to influence. Crimea aside, neither side wishes to be too overt with military intervention, and the result is tailor-made for modern cyber warfare.

What remains of Ukraine is politically west-leaning and NATO-cooperative. This places Russia in the position of protagonist; and while it should be said that there is little direct proof of Russia-led cyber warfare, there is equally little doubt in the minds of many security researchers.

Two examples will immediately come to mind: the power disruptions over the Christmas period of 2015, and the more recent NotPetya ransomware outbreak. The latter started in the Ukraine before spreading worldwide. It appears to have emanated from Ukrainian accounting software called MEDoc, but is now thought by some to be a wiper cyberweapon disguised as ransomware "apparently launched by the same threat group that initiated numerous other attacks against the country’s power grid, mining and railway systems, and Ukrainian government organizations."

NATO's official policy towards Ukraine is to bolster its independence.