In response to an important cyber-incident dated by Russia, Ukraine has published regulations on household electricity consumption, making people worry about the country’s energy security and the entire cryptographic war to come.
The cyberattack, described by local officials as “the biggest” in the country’s history of such incidents, disrupted operations of the Ukrainian power grid, consequently calling for the speedy response to the situation from the country’s authorities. Ukraine’s energy ministry theoretically gave out a limit for the energy consumption, directing the public to scale down the use of energy during hours of peak consumption, the result of which was to mildly deal with the effects of the disruption.
The Ukrainian energy system has once again faced a cyber threat that invalidates the perceptions of safety for critical infrastructure. With the increasing need for digital systems, also the chance for bad actors to misuse loopholes arises and could easily threaten international security and economic safety.
The event has however brought into sharp focus the complex field of relations between Ukraine and Russia, where the cyber conflict has been recognised to be the new battleground. However, the genesis and reasons of the attack are still under investigation. It has increased the suspicion between the two sides which brings up the issue of usefulness of the latest cyber technology in dealing with the critical infrastructure.
Having undertaken the attack, Ukrainian authorities are set to fight for the normalcy in the country’s sectors of power while improvement of the cybersecurity measures is being focused on to prevent future situations. The event stresses that the mode of modern warfare is swiftly changing with the cyber domain as a challenge to data and network protection.
Ukraine being one of the countries that experienced a cyberattack after an emergency, the case is a reference for the authorities and institutions worldwide for the priority program of cybersecurity and capacity building for playing a catch-up-game in the highly digitalized globe.
