A NATO-affiliated cyber defense center has voted to admit Ukraine as a participant in a move likely to anger Russia and bring its western neighbor closer to the military organization.
The Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) said Ukraine would become a “contributing participant” alongside other non-NATO member countries, including Sweden, Finland, South Korea, and Switzerland.
“Capability and knowledge come from experience, and Ukraine definitely has valuable experience from previous cyber-attacks to provide significant value to the NATO CCDCOE,” said Estonia’s minister of defense, Kalle Laanet.
“Estonia as a host nation of the CCDCOE has been a long-term partner for Ukraine in enhancing its cybersecurity capacity and cyber-resilience and we welcome the decision of the members of CCDCOE agreeing to Ukraine’s membership.”
The CCDCOE was founded in 2008 after a series of massive cyber-attacks in Estonia the year before crippled the country for weeks. The campaign was blamed on Russian hackers.
The center is billed as a knowledge hub, research institution, and training facility focused on interdisciplinary applied research, consulting training, and exercises in cybersecurity.
The move will likely be met with fury in the Kremlin, which repeatedly called out ‘NATO aggression’ as a justification for its invasion of Ukraine.
In related news, Amazon on Friday claimed to have detected cyber-attacks trying to disrupt medical supplies, food, and clothing relief destined for civilians trapped in Ukraine and under fire from Russian artillery. Read more:https://bit.ly/3MsLBc4