Ukraine lacks nearly 100K cybersecurity specialists – special comms agency

This was stated by the head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection Oleksandr Potiy, who met with members of the American-Ukrainian Business Council, Ukrinform reports with reference to the agency’s press service.

According to Potiy, there is currently a single Qualification Center for Information Technologies and Cybersecurity operating in Ukraine. However, to fully assess experts’ knowledge, a network of such centers is needed throughout the country.

“The shortage of professional personnel dealing with data protection and cyber security in Ukraine, according to various estimates, may reach 100,000. Of course, from Ukrainian higher education facilities thousands of specialists graduate every year, but they have no professional certificates, so no one can confirm their qualification level. And this is a serious problem, because both state structures and businesses need to recruit competent specialists to ensure cyber security,” the head of the State Special Communications Service noted.

He noted that business should also become a full-fledged component of the state system of cyberspace protection. After all, the organizational and technical model of cyber security involves the creation of a network of teams and operational centers for responding to cyber incidents at the national level, as well as at the facility level for large enterprises.

“We strive for not only state institutions to create such teams and centers. To ensure the cyber resilience of the entire state, it is necessary for every link to be protected, and for businesses – to also join the process. The State Special Communications Service, as a regulator, is ready to provide maximum support and coordination to both state institutions and private companies,” Potiy emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on March 27, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on strengthening data protection and cyber defense of state information resources and critical information infrastructure facilities.