back to article CISA boss says US alliance with Ukraine over past year is closer than Five Eyes

The head of the US government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has extolled the ongoing relationship between America and Ukraine barely a year into a crucial security information sharing pact. In a keynote at the Black Hat conference on Wednesday, Jen Easterly sat down with Ukraine's Victor Zhora, a …

  1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "The answer is planning ahead"

    And therein lies the problem.

    Politicians today do not plan ahead. They react, mostly badly (and that goes for practically every country, not just US/UK).

    If China does invade Taiwan, the US is likely going to get a heaping helping of trouble. Then politicians will cry that nothing has been done.

    Yeah, well start doing it now.

  2. Brad Ackerman
    Devil

    khat?

    That's an interesting crop of the photo; I can't decide if the pun is intended or not.

  3. DS999 Silver badge

    The US is benefiting at least as much as Ukraine in this

    Russia is all-in in this war and will be holding little or nothing back as far as its toolkit of ways to wage technological warfare not just via software exploits but stuff that involves both hardware and software - the exploit that bricked those satellite terminals shortly after the start of the war being a good example.

    I'm sure they're learning a lot about Russia's capabilities and we can put defenses in place against tools that Russia could have used to compromise the systems of the US and the Five Eyes. And on the bad side, probably figuring out "hey they had a good idea here but they didn't realize this attack could be a lot worse if they did this instead" and enhancing our own offensive toolkit.

    1. Zolko Silver badge

      Re: The US is benefiting at least as much as Ukraine in this

      Russia is all-in in this war

      No they're not: at the same time as the war, they're launching a Lunar mission, they're replacing former colonial masters in Africa and Middle-East, and they're forging new international economical alliances with 1/2 of Human population. While the EU is de-constructing itself for ideological reason, and while the USA is drowning in mountains of debt. I can't say what the end of the war will be, but I'm quite certain that "we " are not going to be amongst the winners.

      1. Casca Silver badge

        Re: The US is benefiting at least as much as Ukraine in this

        Good little russian bot.

      2. Strong as Taishan Mountains

        Re: The US is benefiting at least as much as Ukraine in this

        We're always at war with *checks notes* Eurasia

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    We're gonna fight to the last Ukrainian /s

    "When you look at some of the reactions to the attack on the Colonial Pipeline"

    Enough with the Neocon cyber BS ..

    1. Glen 1

      Re: We're gonna fight to the last Ukrainian /s

      ...but that is literally the name of the company.

      Wiki Link

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's more than just IT data.

    I live near enough to the USAF/RAF airbases in Suffolk to hear when the big stuff is taking off - Rivet Joints and Stratotankers principally, and its amazing how often a day or two of patrolling up and down Ukraine's borders just listening and pinpointing, is succeeded by a highly accurate Ukrainian missile strike on a command and control centre...There may be no NATO boots on the ground or planes in the air, but for sure the intelligence being gathered by NATO is 100% available to Ukraine.

    1. martinusher Silver badge

      Re: It's more than just IT data.

      ....and there likes the problem.

      The Ukraine war didn't start in 2022, it was simmering for years before that. Although there were a couple of agreements -- "Minsk" -- it has been subsequently admitted by EU leaders like Macron and Merkel that this was merely a ruse to buy time to militarize Ukraine. So the Russian SMO was never a matter of 'if', only 'when'.

      What we have to ask ourselves is 'Why?'. Its possible that NATO assumed that once the government in Ukraine had been re-oriented the Russians would up and leave Crimea to them. This flies in the face of both history and practical reality, though. Maybe the answer can be found somewhere like Niger. The recent coup there displaced a US/Western friendly government and threatened the bases that we (the US) had established in that country, bases we use to exert control over North Africa. We have not only sent a senior diplomat there -- Victoria Nuland, no less -- to explain to them the error of their ways but have also started to assemble a loose coalition of neighboring countries to threaten them into 'getting their minds right'. All this is flying under our mass media radar but I expect it will become another crisis sooner or later.

      Another piece of the puzzle is why we'd carry on like this while also going for full on economic warfare (plus military posturing) with China. It has all the hallmarks of "Biting off more than we can chew".

      1. low_resolution_foxxes

        Re: It's more than just IT data.

        There are various reasons for the Ukraine war. Frankly it is hard to ignore the fact that the bulk of the fighting focussed on the Crimea and Donbas regions and Putin's miraculous discovery of "Nazees" in the exact same regions where Shell and our American cousins found some of the largest oil and gas wells in Europe.

        In this context, we must remind ourselves that only the UK and the Nordic countries have good access to their own hydrocarbons - the rest of Europe is/was basically dependent on Russia and the Middle East for its energy. In case of an all out conflict they remain perilously dependent on 3rd party countries. While Russia itself relied on 20-40% of it's annual gas sales (and consequent government tax income) on the gas pipeline that runs through Ukraine into Europe.

        I can only presume that Putin would be highly aware that European and US companies swarming around the newly discovered oil and gas fields in East Ukraine/Crimea formed an almost existential threat to Russia's export economy and has presumably seen this as a cause worth fighting for (it's notable that Joe Biden's son was a director at the Ukraine state energy company, an awkward link in hindsight given his personal vices).

        No idea how to ramp down the conflict now? You would need to pacify Putin and show him an alternative, which would probably need to include the creation of multiple gas pipelines to Asia and Turkey/developing countries. Will the EU ever trade in Russia petrochemicals again? Not in the short term. But even if the conflict calms down, which company will spend billions on oilwell development in a military hot conflict region? That would almost require some Russian % split to encourage friendly terms. It's just too close to the Russian border and too inflammatory for the Russians to accept.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    World War 3 ..... but not as we imagined it would be !!!

    martinusher,

    "Biting off more than we can chew"

    directly relates to the 1st comments quote:

    "Politicians today do not plan ahead."

    The US/UK have been lumbered with govts that do not plan ahead for some time. !!!

    Sound bites and Posturing is *much* cheaper and requires much less effort to work out what the *plan* will be !!!

    Putin is hoping that the alliance of the EU/UK/US will eventually founder on the rocks of 'division & self-interest' particularly when the monetary costs keeps going up and up !!!

    Throw in the deliberate encouragement of a 'inconvenient' local coup in Africa to spread the global disorder and impact the 'wests' efforts to calm the political risks in Africa and we have fun fun fun for all !!!

    Putin has no regard for anyone but himself, he will throw his own people on the pyre if needed.

    So throwing a few hundred thousand people in Africa into a pointless war, which will be seen as much against the west and its influence in Africa as against whichever side is supported the coup in Niger.

    Putin is really one of the devils greatest creations, perhaps he wants to be on the same scoreboard as Stalin, Hitler et al

    [Not enough dead people yet !!! .... give him time though !!!]

    :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: World War 3 ..... but not as we imagined it would be !!!

      So disappointed .... only 2 members of the FSB downvoted me !!!

      :)

  7. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Looking ahead

    > closer than Five Eyes

    Sounds rather short-sighted

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