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The DAI-led initiative had involved providing cybersecurity equipment — such as data recovery hardware, backup systems and threat detection tools — for scores of entities. That includes the state-owned electricity company Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s tax agency, several government ministries, in addition to cybersecurity support for airports, radioactive waste management facilities and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, according to the people and documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. It also helped coordinate information sharing on cyber threats between Ukraine and the US’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, providing the US with a crucial source of intelligence on the latest tactics deployed by Russian state-backed hackers.
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A representative for DAI declined to comment. A spokesperson for CISA said the agency was continuing to share threat information with Ukraine.
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Following the funding freeze in January, many of the people who were working on the DAI project were furloughed and its future is now unclear. Some of the company’s employees are continuing to work in Ukraine, but their capability has been significantly restricted. Equipment and services that were to be provided to Ukraine for ongoing initiatives, such as a project to strengthen the country’s central election commission, are now not going ahead as planned, according to the people.
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Other US contractors, such as Arlington, Virginia-based CRDF Global, were working in Ukraine on digital defense projects, providing training courses and working with the country’s National Security and Defense Council to create cybersecurity operations centers. That work, too, has now been paused and it is not known whether it will resume pending ongoing reviews at the State Department, according to two people familiar with the work.A representative for CRDF Global declined to comment.
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Separately, an international initiative that had sought to bolster support for Ukrainian cybersecurity has also been impacted. The Tallinn Mechanism – supported by a host of countries, including Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Estonia – last year announced some $200 million funding to support Ukrainian cybersecurity to counter Russian attacks. The US had agreed to contribute $100 million, most of it to be delivered via USAID, according to two people familiar with the funding.
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But following Trump’s election, the US funding has been frozen and it’s not clear whether it will ever be delivered, the two people said. The State Department spokesperson said the agency’s review of cyber projects includes those coordinated through the Tallinn Mechanism.
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Some foreign governments are stepping up to fill the void left by the US, according to four people with direct knowledge of that effort. Such was the scale of US support that it’s unlikely other governments will be able to replicate it entirely. But any increase in support could provide valued assistance, the people said. Canada, the UK and Japan have moved to quickly increase funding of ongoing work for cybersecurity and other critical initiatives, they said.
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Ukraine has also received support from the private sector, which looks likely to continue. More than a dozen companies – including Mandiant, Palo Alto Networks Inc. and Broadcom Inc.’s Symantec – have provided cybersecurity assistance through a US-based organization called the Cyber Defense Assistance Collaborative, or CDAC. Their support, so far worth about $40 million, has continued through the war, providing Ukraine with intelligence on hacking threats and tools to detect intrusions, according to Greg Rattray, CDAC’s executive director.
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The loss of funding from USAID and other sources, said Rattray, “makes the private sector activity even more important as it’s not driven by the US government.”
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—With assistance from Kate Sullivan.
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English (US)