The UK has announced 25 million pounds ($32 million) of additional funding to expand Ukraine’s cyber defense against Russia.
The Ukraine Cyber Program (UCP) funding provides a “major boost” for Ukraine to detect, respond, and prevent Russian cyber attacks, protecting the government’s critical defense services and national infrastructure.
Around 16 million pounds ($21 million) of the funding is coming directly from the British government, with the remaining contributed by international allies.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is now negotiating with the private sector to support the UCP counteroffensive project.
“Russia’s appalling attacks on Ukraine are not limited to their barbaric land invasion, but also involve sickening attempts to attack their cyber infrastructure that provides vital services, from banking to energy supplies, to innocent Ukrainian people,” Sunak stated.
“This funding is critical to stopping those onslaughts, hardening Ukraine’s cyber defences and increasing the country’s ability to detect and disable the malware targeted at them.”
Ukraine Cyber Program
UCP utilizes international public and private expertise to protect Ukraine from cyber-related threats.
The initiative received initial funding of 6.35 million pounds ($8 million) last year.
Alongside the services and national infrastructure protection, UCP enables Ukrainian cyber experts to identify cyber hackers, analyze system vulnerability, and develop evidence to prosecute attackers.
Latest Ukrainian Cyber Defense Assistance
Ukraine joined NATO’s Tallinn-based Cyber Defense Center in May to bolster its defense capabilities in response to Russian cyberattacks that have increased since the third quarter of 2022.
The agreement to increase NATO and Ukraine’s cyber defense partnership was initially signed pre-emptive to the invasion a month before Russian forces advanced on Kyiv.
In April, the EU launched a 1.1-billion euro ($1.2 billion) effort to improve member states’ security from cross-border hacking attacks.
Meanwhile, the US Cyber Command supported Ukraine last year by carrying out covert offensive cyber operations against Moscow hackers.