Ukraine has managed to carry out “a real revolution by moving upmarket in its defensive cyber fight” while suffering from high-level cyber attacks, the head of France’s Cyber Defence Command (COMCYBER), General Aymeric Bonnemaison, said on Thursday.
Cyber attacks, particularly of Russian origin, have been hitting Ukraine and its critical infrastructure since at least 2014, Bonnemaison said during a press conference on Thursday.
In response, the French Ministry said that the country has strengthened “its cyber defence capabilities,” which has enabled it to carry out “a real revolution by moving upmarket in its computer defence fight,” according to Bonnemaison.
Last December, during a closed-door hearing at the National Assembly, which was made public on Thursday, General Bonnemaison explained that Ukraine “worked on its vulnerabilities with the Western cyber powers, first and foremost the United States.
He described this support as “decisive” and the “approximation of Ukrainian standards and procedures to Western models.” This “makes it possible to share quickly the indications of an attack and the first technical tools to protect against it,” he said.
On Thursday, the general praised the resilience and effectiveness of Ukrainian cyber defence, adding that he was pleased that Russian cyber attacks had “been much less impactful and effective than expected.”
“Cyber can be used to permanently weaken a state in a sneaky and long-term way, or in a brutal and visible way,” the general told the Defence Committee in December, adding that Ukraine could have been “brought to its knees.”
But this did not happen, on the contrary, because Ukraine now has a “defensive advantage [which] constitutes a real paradigm shift.” It allows the Ukrainian state to contain, reorganise and “use other systems to rebound, all with significant creativity and innovation” in cyber defence.
(Davide Basso | EURACTIV.fr)
Source: euractiv.com
