Incident Response Days 4.0: FinHack Edition – cyber resilience of the financial sector in the focus of national dialogue
On August 21-22, at the Kyiv Aviation Institute, on the initiative of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, in cooperation with the National Bank of Ukraine, with the support of the US State Department and the CRDF Global Civilian Research Fund, as well as with the participation of the technology organizer Cyber Unit Technologies and partner – Kyiv Aviation Institute State University, the fourth annual Incident Response Days 4.0 (IRD 4.0): FinHack Edition event took place. The event was dedicated to developing skills for responding to cyber incidents in the financial sector and brought together over a hundred cybersecurity experts, heads of institutions, representatives of government agencies, international organizations, and technology companies to jointly work out practical scenarios for countering modern cyberattacks.
Opening the event, Natalia Tkachuk, Head of the Information Security and Cybersecurity Service of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Secretary of the National Coordination Center for Countering Cyber Threats at the National Security and Defense Council, emphasized:
“The resilience of the financial sector's digital infrastructure is not only a matter of technology, but also a matter of strategic coordination, partnership, and speed of response to new challenges.”
The IRD 4.0 event combined several complementary formats. The practical CTF (Capture the Flag) competition gave participants the opportunity to test their technical skills in scenarios based on real threats to the financial sector, including malware analysis, incident investigation, and the use of AI in defense and attack neutralization. At the same time, leading experts held technical training sessions on modern response methods, investigation tools, and SOC process development.
The TTX (Table-top Exercise) strategic simulation allowed financial organization managers to practice management decisions while simulating a complex incident under pressure and uncertainty.An important part was also a coordination session that brought together representatives of state and private structures and international partners in a dialogue on challenges for the financial sector. A separate block was devoted to practical training in crisis communications in conditions of destructive information influence.
The CTF competition attracted particular attention, with the White team (a women's team) winning first place, the Sky Blue team taking second place, and the Black team coming in third. The participation and victory of the women's team in the Ukrainian competition symbolically confirmed the importance of the national initiative to strengthen the role of women in cybersecurity and the priority of involving women in strategically important areas of digital security.
IRD 4.0 demonstrated that the combination of technical competitions, strategic training, and cross-sector dialogue creates a unique learning environment that allows for the simultaneous development of technical competencies, management skills, and communication resilience. The event confirmed its role as a key platform for competence development, experience sharing, and national dialogue in the field of cybersecurity, contributing to the strengthening of Ukraine's cyber resilience in times of growing threats.