OSCE-supported video series to promote cyber hygiene among Ukraine’s civil servants

An educational series of videos on cyber hygiene rules for civil servants, produced with the support of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator, was presented at an event in Kyiv on 26 January 2021. Nine episodes lasting from 3 to 7 minutes are placed on the Dia.Osvita digital education platform of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

“Modern governance is impossible without information technologies, but these technologies create new risks, as criminals or terrorists seek to find and exploit digital vulnerabilities to damage or disrupt governmental information systems. The scale of possible damage from IT-facilitated crime has increased immensely in the past years,” noted Henrik Villadsen, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. “Educating officials about those risks and about things they can and must do to enhance digital security of their offices is a key step in building the country’s resilience to modern threats”.  

The videos cover main threats that may arise in cyberspace, including hacking, spreading of malware, phishing, and social engineering hoaxes used by criminals to trick users into compromising their digital security. Basic notions of what users should pay attention to while using common IT services are highlighted and explained. They include ways to enhance security of browsing the Internet, safety tips for e-mail services, issues related to the use of mobile devices and free Wi-Fi services. Tips on disinformation campaigns on the web are also included.    

Watching the series enables the civil servants working with the central authorities and at the local level to get additional scores in the state retraining system of officials. The series is an initial part of the training programme for civil servants and local government officials to be developed and launched later this year.

This educational instrument was developed in co-operation with the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service and Ukrainian School of Governance in the framework of the project “Strengthening Ukrainian State Authorities’ Cyber Hygiene and Cybersecurity Capacity”. The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, with financial support from the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented the project.