IN TIMES OF CONFLICT, WOMEN ARE STEPPING UP FOR THE CYBER FIGHT by David Braue
Women are spearheading Ukraine’s response to Russian cyber aggression – and winning
A
s Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags into
on Promoting the Role of Women in Preventing,
its second year, its seismic effects are
Investigating and Prosecuting Cybercrime.
still being felt around the globe – not the least because of the heart-rending
“Because of our women in this sphere, we are
vision as families were separated, men
fighting really hard to protect our cyber space,” she
under 60 years of age were sent to the front lines,
continued. “We have an IT army, and there are lots of
and millions of women and children fled the country
volunteers. Girls joined this army, and we are hitting
for safety.
the aggressor back. And we are doing good.”
For Natalia Tkachuk and myriad other women who
“We are doing good, but of course it’s still not enough
stayed to fight a very different kind of war, however,
for women in this sphere,” said Tkachuk, a 20-year
the past year has been one of fighting back – and,
veteran of law enforcement and national security.
she argues, “we’re not losing [but] winning in the cyber war.”
“All this time I was talking about equal rights, and opportunities, and obligations for men and women.
“In Ukraine, we have a totally different cyber
But when this war came, I understood that still there
threat landscape” in which typical concerns about
are differences [due to the conscription of men and
ransomware have been eclipsed by “sophisticated,
the evacuation of so many women].”
well-planned… state-sponsored cyber attacks
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against our critical infrastructure,” Tkachuk told the
Yet the choice is there for women who want to stay
recent Council of Europe International Conference
and fight – and on the front lines, or on the cyber
W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
M A R C H • A P R I L 2023