RESEARCH PAPER
Mechanisms for providing cybersecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives for Ukraine
| 1 | Department of Information Policy and Digital Technologies, National Academy of Public Administration under the President
of Ukraine, 20, Antona Tsedika str., 03057, Kyiv, Ukraine |
| 2 | Department of Regional Development, University of Gdańsk, Jana Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309, Gdańsk, Poland |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Aleksander Kuczabski
Department of Regional Development, University of Gdańsk, Jana Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309, Gdańsk, Poland
Department of Regional Development, University of Gdańsk, Jana Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309, Gdańsk, Poland
Submission date: 2020-05-22
Acceptance date: 2021-02-08
Online publication date: 2021-03-12
Publication date: 2021-03-31
Security and Defence Quarterly 2021;33(1)
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The article analyses key cybersecurity trends against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, trends that could lead to an increase in cyber threats. It also looks at cyber threats related to remote work in this period. Foreign experience in counteracting the spread of disinformation online, about COVID-19, has been studied. A global trend for strengthening law enforcement control over cyberspace content, network traffic, and digital devices of users has been identified. It has been established that some states are finding it difficult to counteract the spread of coronavirus-related threats and are sometimes resorting to violating the traditional balance of rights and freedoms of citizens in cyberspace, in fact, legalising cyber-surveillance of citizens. The paper investigates the limits of state intervention in the lives of citizens in the face of a real threat to national security. In matters of cybersecurity in the medical sphere, a shift of emphasis from the problem of protection of personal data of patients to the protection of key functions of the medical sphere is revealed. Mechanisms for implementing cybersecurity to counter the spread of fake news (misinformation) on the internet, about COVID-19, are substantiated. Practical tools and cybersecurity measures used during the COVID-19 pandemic are recommended for Ukrainian authorities. The importance of creating appropriate conditions for ensuring the balance between the implementation of restrictive policies in the field of cybersecurity and ensuring freedom of speech and openness of the internet is proven.
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