Ukraine plans to legalize its volunteer hacker army

As you know, shortly after the events of February last year began, many hackers, working from different parts of the globe, both independently and in small groups, began to carry out cyber attacks on Russian organizations in various industries, allegedly acting in the interests of Ukraine. But since it is illegal to perform such actions in anyone’s interests, the Ukrainian government has come up with a graceful way out.

The new bill, actively promoted by the Ukrainian authorities, will legalize hacking and other malicious activities in the interests of the country. Any volunteer hacker brigades operating both on the territory of Ukraine itself and from the territory of other countries are planned to be officially included in the armed forces of Ukraine, structured and legalized.

“The law on the creation and functioning of cyber units within the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine should be adopted as soon as possible,” said Natalia Tkachuk, secretary of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center of Ukraine.

Tkachuk also added that the new law will be “the basis for building the capacity of the state’s cyber defense, attracting cyber volunteers to this activity and creating a cyber reserve” – ​​a detachment of civilian cyber experts trained by the military who can be mobilized to ensure national security.

Ukraine plans to adopt the Estonian experience in creating an effective cyber-military infrastructure – to create personnel whose technical suitability will be determined during compulsory military service, and then undergo additional training. The skills learned in the process will allow specialists to effectively protect the country in cyberspace during their mandatory service, and also benefit the country even after being transferred to the reserve. According to NATO’s legal analysis, the adoption of the Estonian cyber-reserve model would also remove questions about the legal status of the Ukrainian IT army for Ukraine.

In addition, according to anonymous American sources, Ukraine also plans to enlist the close support of government hackers from the United States to further build up its forces in this area. However, according to the same sources, so far the departments cannot come to a consensus on the terms of such cooperation.

The exact terms for the adoption and implementation of the bill were not named. And even if it is adopted in the near future, it is unlikely that such a large-scale restructuring will be implemented quickly.