Publication

For several years prior to the Russian invasion, the principal idea of creating a cyber volunteer army had been bouncing around in Ukrainian government circles. In part those discussions were informed by the success of the Estonian Defence League's Cyber Unit and other efforts around the globe. In contrast to these well-​established and purely defensive cyber volunteering efforts, the IT Army of Ukraine was stood up in an ad-​hoc manner without a clearly structured and proven plan. This CSS Cyberdefense Report provides the first-​ever comprehensive analysis of the IT Army’s structure, tasking, and ecosystem.