РНБОУ National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine

The National Defense Hackathon 2022 has ended

The National Defense Hackathon 2022 has ended, with the participation of more than 300 participants - 41 teams from the public and private sectors.

The event was also attended by, in particular, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Serhiy Demedyuk, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleh Hayduk, representatives of other ministries and departments, people's deputies of Ukraine, Head of the Information Security and Cybersecurity Service of the Staff of NSDC of Ukraine, the NCSCC Secretary Natalia Tkachuk, CRDF GLOBAL in Ukraine Mykhailo Verych, cyber security specialists - representatives of the private sector and partner countries.

Competitions were held in three areas: technical, combating disinformation, and legal. Tasks include the development of data analysis systems, video streams and everything related to this, collection and analysis of large volumes of data, enemy identification systems, etc., as well as psychological influence, information and psychological countermeasures, etc.

Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Serhiy Demedyuk noted that in the conditions of war, interaction between the public and private sectors "is carried out urgently", which is extremely important.

According to him, cyberspace is a special area where conventional means of warfare cannot be applied, and there is "competition with the enemy in technologies and methods of data transmission." Therefore, the Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council emphasized, joining efforts of cyber security specialists - representatives of both the public and private sectors - will allow to form a powerful defense.

In her speech, the NCSCC Secretary Natalia Tkachuk reminded of the main goals and tasks defined by the Cybersecurity Strategy of Ukraine, adopted in August 2021, as well as other decisions of the National Security Council of Ukraine in the field of cyber defense.

Natalia Tkachuk highly appreciated the professionalism of the main subjects of cyber security in the public sector and the level of public-private partnership, and emphasized the importance of developing a "clear, transparent and effective legislative framework", which will become "the basis of an effective cyber defense system".

In this context, she emphasized the need for the speedy adoption of a law on the creation and functioning of cyber troops in the system of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which should become "the basis for building the state's capabilities in the field of cyber defense, involving cyber volunteers in this activity and creating a cyber reserve."

The head of the service also noted that it is necessary to introduce clear criteria in international law that would determine the limit after which a collective response of NATO members to a cyber attack should take place.

Eight winning teams from the public and private sectors received prizes, including certificates for training in cyber security according to NATO standards, modern laptops and smartphones. The teams that took the first places also got the right to participate in the NATO Hackathon, which will be held this year in Poland.