At UN, Ukraine shares experience of strengthening resilience in face of cyberattacks

He said this in a comment to Ukrinform during his visit to the U.S., where he took part in the Global Round Table on the Information and Communication Technologies Security at the UN headquarters.

According to the deputy minister, more and more countries are joining the process of digitalization of governments and transitioning to digital economies. "In this process, it turns out that there are many issues that require international regulation, agreements, the development of common norms regarding the responsible behavior of governments in the digital space and the safe and useful implementation of technologies for humanity," he noted, adding that the UN is a unique platform for considering these issues.

Demiokhin noted that Ukraine, which has been repelling systemic attacks by Russian cyber groups since 2014, demonstrates "high and professional cyber resilience, respected by our partners."

"Ukraine is currently one of the leading states in international cyber resilience indexes. According to one of the ratings, we ranked 12th in 2022, and sixth in 2023," he said.

The official emphasized that the latest Russian cyberattacks target the government of Ukraine, the defense and economic areas, and critical infrastructure. "In fact, we are now in the state of the first cyber war in the world," he said. "It's like Star Wars, with battles in space, only in cyberspace."

At the same time, in international legislation "there are not enough written norms that relate to the issue of armed conflicts in cyberspace," Demiokhin added.

He noted that cyber diplomacy deals with the coordination of the work of Ukrainian state institutions in international activities, the implementation of Ukraine's foreign policy goals in cyberspace, and cooperation with diplomats of other countries. In October 2023, a corresponding structural unit was set up at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The Department of Cyber Diplomacy focuses on tasks related to international cooperation in matters related to cyberspace and digital policy, relevant international norms and law in close cooperation with other state authorities, in particular the National Coordination Center for Cyber Security at the NSDC, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, State Special Communications Service, Security Service of Ukraine, Ministry of Defense etc.," the official said.

Demiokhin said that "Ukraine supports UN’s work on developing norms of responsible behavior of states in cyberspace and supporting sustainable development goals." Our country adheres to the international norms of the democratic world regarding responsible behavior in cyberspace, as well as the safe development of the latest technologies, including artificial intelligence.

In addition, Demiokhin seeks to draw global attention to "what is actually happening in Ukraine in cyberspace in the context of Russia's kinetic war against Ukraine, as well as cyberwar as one of the aspects of this aggression."

He emphasized that "the issues of international cooperation, exchange sharing, and development of common approaches are really important." At the same time, "formats of cooperation are becoming multidimensional", he noted, including government’s interaction with the private sector. "Today, Ukraine is a model of such effective cooperation," he noted.

"The experience we have gained in Ukraine over the last two years since a full-scale invasion gives us the opportunity to raise the issue of our participation in the construction of the world's global security architecture," the deputy minister concluded.

As reported, the first international conference on cyber diplomacy is being held in Kyiv on May 15-16. The purpose of the event is to discuss and research cyber diplomacy and its impact on the future of international relations in the conditions of rapid technological progress.

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