NATO member states offered Ukraine assistance in protecting the electronic network of the Central Election Commission from possible Russian cyberattacks during the elections set to be held in 2019, according to Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze who spoke with journalists in Brussels following an ambassadorial-level meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission.
"We discussed practical things, threats that we can assume could be realized by Russia, their meddling in the election process," the vice prime minister said, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Brussels.
Read alsoPoroshenko approves Annual National Program of Ukraine-NATO cooperation"One of the potential targets of such an attack may be the Central Election Commission. There was a concrete proposal from our Romanian partners, who are a leading country in the Cyber Security Trust Fund, about the inclusion of the CEC in the second phase of the agreement on the Fund, to which we had moved. This is a very concrete and practical proposal that we can implement very quickly and which will make the CEC electronic network more stable and protected," she said.
Read alsoTurchynov: Ukraine makes big step to build national cybersecurity systemAccording to Klympush-Tsintsadze, the Ukrainian side is interested in putting the proposal to life in the near future, ahead of the 2019 elections, as Ukraine "must prepare for them in this regard as well."