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OPINION FEBRUARY 17, 2023 | The Indian Eye 10

Who are the winners and losers

in the Russia–Ukraine cyberwar?

New variables that have made a difference in the cyber conflict have been the assistance provided,

both individually and collectively, by countries backing Ukraine in its conflict with Russia

Courtesy: IDSA

CHERIAN SAMUEL with the Russian cyber play book, The latest US defense budget (CDAC), a coalition of tech com-
having been at the receiving end for provides enhanced budgetary assis- panies, including Avast, the Cyber
he cyber conflict between Rus- so long. tance of US$ 44 million for these Threat Alliance, LookingGlass Cyber
sia and Ukraine preceded the New variables that have made teams. On a tangential note, the Solutions, Mandiate, Next Peak, Palo
Tkinetic conflict by almost a a difference in the cyber conflict war has also reinvigorated efforts by Alto Networks, Recorded Future,
month, with the first major cyber-at- have been the assistance provided, NATO member countries to better Symantec and Broadcom, Threat
tack on 14 January 2022 knocking out both individually and collectively, by synchronize their cyber defense ef- Quotient and numerous others, have
over 70 Ukrainian government web- countries backing Ukraine in its con- forts which has been struggling with been brought together by the Civilian
sites. These included websites of the flict with Russia. This assistance has the unique challenges of adapting Research and Development Founda-
Cabinet of Ministers and the Minis- taken the form of training, exchange collective security principles to cyber tion (CRDF), established in 1995 by
tries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Ed- of information as well as assistance in defense. Heightened activity at vari- an Act of the US Congress, to work
ucation and Science. Since then, even active defense. NATO, the collective ous levels of NATO shows a renewed towards protecting Ukrainian critical
though much of the focus has been security alliance, which is one of the vigor to tackle challenges. infrastructure.
on the kinetic conflict, the cyber con- ostensible reasons behind the Rus- Yet another factor has been the Although the private tech com-
flict has also continued unabated with sian invasion of Ukraine, has been role played by major software and panies, from Microsoft to Elon
both sides engaged in a variety of man at the forefront of providing support cyber security companies in provid- Musk’s Starlink, have stepped in to
oeuvres, from attacks on critical infra- against the cyber-attacks being faced ing varied forms of assistance, from fill the gaps and vulnerabilities faced
structure to spreading misinformation. by Ukraine. Ukraine’s application data to training to even monetary as- by Ukraine, this raises major ques-
Along the way, a number of ex- for membership in the NATO Cy- sistance, with Microsoft recently an- tions about the dangers of over-de-
isting preconceptions about cyber bersecurity center, pending since nouncing it was providing as much as pendence on these companies and
conflict in an active war scenario 2021, was approved in January 2023, US$ 400 million to assist in cyber se- the leverage they hold, something
have been upended. Chief among making it one of the five non-NATO curity efforts to Ukraine. Much of the that holds good globally. Use of Star-
them was the expectation that cy- members of the NATO Cooperative resilience of Ukrainian websites to link receivers, for instance, is dis-
ber-attacks would play a decisive Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence Russian cyber-attacks has also been abled in Russian-controlled territory.
part in the conflict and that Russia (CCDCOE). attributed to pre-emptive measures Though there is little evidence
would dominate in this domain given The European Union has spent undertaken by Microsoft in the weeks of Russian companies playing a role
its superior capabilities and familiar- over 10 million euros since the be- leading up to the war with active en- in the war effort, many Russian tech
ity with the Ukrainian cyber terrain. ginning of the conflict to assist couragement from the US govern- companies have suffered collateral
This was especially so since its enti- Ukrainian cyber defenses, including ment. Microsoft has also published a damage from the sanctions imposed
ties had been carrying out cyber-at- setting up of a cyber lab, and provid- series of reports highlighting Russian on Russia as well as the internet con-
tacks against Ukraine over the past ing security software and hardware attacks on Ukraine. Amazon also trol laws in the country. Cybersecuri-
decade. The resilience of Ukrainian to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. US announced that it had contributed ty company Kaspersky is among the
networks in the face of these attacks Cyber Command has also publicly substantially to the Ukrainian cause. last of the companies offering Virtu-
has now been attributed to the very stated that it has been operating hunt Initiatives such as the Cyber al Private Network (VPN) services to
same factors, that they are familiar forward teams in Ukraine. Defense Assistance Collaboration Continued on next page... >>

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