CyberEurope

Estonia Builds Ukraine Military Cyber Facility to Fend Off Russian Hackers

The Ukrainian military now has a bolstered capability to fend off Russian hackers.

Thanks to Estonia, a new military cyber facility has been established in the war-torn nation.

e-Governance Academy (eGA) and CybExer Technologies collaborated on the project as part of the European Union’s support for Ukraine.

According to the eGA, the consortium has been working closely with the Ukrainian military for more than eight months to help improve its cybersecurity skills.

“It will translate to enhanced digital skills of military professionals and contribute to building cyber resilience of Ukraine,” eGA official Hannes Astok said of the new facility.

Leveraging Experience

Estonia’s move to build a new cyber facility for Ukraine leverages its own experience in combating sophisticated cyberattacks.

A nation of just one million, Estonia has reportedly fought off a wide range of cyberattacks from Russia for many years.

A report by Politico stated that the small country continues to play an “outsized role” in helping Kyiv deflect Russian hackers.

It has provided assistance to many cybersecurity workers in Kyiv and coordinated with powerful allies to strengthen cybersecurity.

“We have been one of the more active European countries in working with them (Ukraine),” Estonian chief information officer Luukas Ilves said, as quoted by the outlet.

Cyber Warfare in Ukraine

Apart from artillery shelling and close-combat battle, Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine seems to have involved cyber warfare.

Earlier this year, Kyiv’s nuclear operator Energoatom reported what it called an “unprecedented cyberattack” on its website.

A popular Russian cyber-army group allegedly used more than 7 million internet bots to attack the website for three hours.

Facebook’s parent company Meta also revealed that several groups of hackers linked to Russia and Belarus broke into the Facebook accounts of Ukrainian military officials.

The hackers ran coordinated campaigns to remove social media posts that oppose President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government.

With the new cyber facility, CybExer official Aare Reintam said that the Ukrainian armed forces will have an underlying technology to effectively deter such attacks.

“Our cyber range technology has proven itself in many national and international cyber training over the last few years. I truly believe that we can provide the Ukraine Armed Forces with the best cyber range available today,” he remarked.

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