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Ukrainian Military Cyber Specialists Take Second Place at Global Defense Cyber Marvel 2026
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
A joint Ukrainian-British team secured second place at the international cyber defense exercise Defense Cyber Marvel 2026 held in Singapore, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on March 17.
The exercise, organized by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense through its Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, brought together more than 2,500 participants from 29 countries. The drills simulated complex cyberattack scenarios targeting military command systems, cloud environments, and critical infrastructure.
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According to the General Staff, the combined team—made up of Ukrainian military cyber specialists and personnel from the UK’s 21st Signal Brigade—ranked second among 36 teams overall.
The Ukrainian side was responsible for the technical core of operations, including developing defense strategies, conducting cyber threat intelligence, detecting and containing attacks, analyzing compromised systems, and preparing technical reports. British partners focused on ensuring communication resilience and coordinating processes.
“The Ukrainian side acted based on practical experience gained while countering real cyberattacks during the ongoing cyber aggression against Ukraine, which ensured high decision-making speed and adaptability to changing scenarios,” the statement read.
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The Ukrainian military said its participation in the exercise provided an opportunity to integrate its wartime cyber defense experience into a multinational environment and test it against international standards.
“Practices developed by the cyber defense units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have practical value for partners and contribute to strengthening collective cyber resilience,” the General Staff added.
Alongside participating in international exercises, Ukraine is continuing to strengthen its own cyber defenses through additional testing and security audits.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has engaged ethical hackers and artificial intelligence tools to test the cybersecurity resilience of its digital weapons procurement platform.
The initiative, organized by the Defense Procurement Agency, is part of broader efforts to enhance the protection of military procurement systems against cyber threats.
Ukrainian cybersecurity specialists were invited to take part in a large-scale exercise simulating real-world attack scenarios. The testing was conducted in a BugBash format, allowing participants to attempt controlled intrusions while developers monitored system performance in a secure environment.
A key component of the exercise involved final-stage testing supported by artificial intelligence tools. The ministry said AI-driven analysis will continue beyond the two-day event, enabling ongoing detection of vulnerabilities.
At the same time, cyber operations linked to Ukraine have targeted Russian military and technology companies. In recent months, Russian defense and technology firms were hit by a cyber-espionage campaign attributed to “Paper Werewolf,” also known as GOFFEE, a hacking group active since 2022 and widely believed to support Ukraine.
According to cybersecurity firm Intezer, the operation relied on AI-generated decoy documents and other deception techniques to trick employees at organizations involved in air defense and sensitive electronics into opening malicious files.
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