Viktor Ora, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, confirmed that his ministry was planning such a possibility, but the fact that it is under study indicates that Ukrainians want to be prepared for any Russian threat to seize sensitive matters. government documents. Plan A assumed the protection of information technology infrastructure in Ukraine. Transferring it to another country would only be Plan B or C. As Ora explained, the transfer can take place only after changes to the regulations approved by Ukrainian lawmakers.

Government officials have been sending equipment and support to safer areas of Ukraine for a long time, out of reach of Russian forces who invaded several cities on February 24.

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Last month, Zora told Politico that there are plans to move critical data outside the country’s capital if it’s at risk, but that preparations for a potential external data transfer go further. “Ukraine has received offers to provide data from different countries,” Ora said, declining to mention it. Given the proximity, he added, “a location in Europe would be preferred.” “There are many options. All suggestions are very welcome and worth considering.”

Ora did not reveal many details about how to make the move, but said that previous efforts to keep government data out of Russia’s reach have involved either physically moving servers and removable storage devices, or migrating digital data from one service or server to another. Even if lawmakers agree to lift restrictions on sending Ukrainian data abroad and develop a protocol to delete IT assets, it won’t necessarily mean that all or most of the government’s data or network equipment will be shipped immediately from Ukraine. Government agencies will have to decide individually whether to continue operating in the country or evacuate.

What to do in the war with piles of data collected by governments has become a topic of international attention after last August’s quick Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, which has occupied city after city as US and other foreign troops withdraw.

The Taliban’s takeover of Kabul meant that their forces could inherit sensitive data — such as information about the salaries of Afghan government employees and soldiers — that they would likely have extracted to find evidence of capturing or eliminating local opponents.

Similar concerns are emerging in Ukraine. Russia’s possession of Ukrainian government databases and intelligence files could be useful if Russia wanted to control Ukraine.

Pavol Jakobek, a historian at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said Ukraine does not necessarily plan to eventually form a government-in-exile, which is usually a last resort.

: They may want to anticipate possible Russian efforts to block their activities, both analog and digital.”

In 1940, Jakobek said, Norway actually sent most of the Foreign Office archives to the north of the country and then to the United Kingdom in connection with the invasion of German forces.

Ukrainian officials are not only trying to protect citizens under occupation, Jacobyk said, but also want to deprive Russian forces of the possibility of acquiring documents that “would otherwise have been forged by the enemy and used for propaganda purposes.”

Source: Reuters