Ukraine lacks nearly 100,000 cybersecurity specialists – intelligence agency

This was announced by the head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, Alexander Pot, at a meeting with representatives of the American-Ukrainian Business Council, as reported by Ukrinform, citing the press service of the department.

According to Pot, currently there is only one Qualification Center for Information Technology and Cybersecurity in Ukraine. However, a network of such centers throughout the country is needed to fully assess the qualifications of specialists.

“The shortage of professional personnel in the field of data protection and cybersecurity in Ukraine, according to various estimates, may reach 100 thousand people. Of course, Ukrainian universities annually graduate thousands of specialists, but they do not have professional certificates, which makes it impossible to confirm their qualifications. This is a serious problem, since both government agencies and businesses need to attract qualified specialists to ensure cybersecurity,” the head of the State Special Communications Service emphasized.

He also added that business should become a full-fledged part of the state system for protecting cyberspace. After all, the organizational and technical model of cybersecurity involves the creation of a network of teams and operational centers to respond to cyber incidents both at the national level and at the facility level for large companies.

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“We strive to ensure that such teams and centers are created not only by government agencies. To ensure the cyber resilience of the entire state, it is necessary that each component is protected, and business is also involved in this process. Gosspetssvyaz, as a regulator, is ready to provide maximum support and coordination to both government agencies and private companies,” Pot noted.

As reported by Ukrinform, on March 27, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on increasing the protection of information and cybersecurity of state information resources and critical information infrastructure facilities.