Devex Newswire: Ukraine’s humanitarian data fallout

For years, the humanitarian community has heard warnings that data it collects about vulnerable people could be targeted in cyberattacks or that its systems could be compromised by electronic warfare. Reports of Russian hacking in Ukraine — and new details about the cyberattack on the International Committee of the Red Cross — suggest the window to heed those warnings is closing fast.

I spoke to Nathanial Raymond, a lecturer at Yale University and the former founding director of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, about what humanitarian organizations should be doing now to prepare for the possibility of electronic warfare in Ukraine.

It was a sobering conversation.

If aid groups need to be convinced that their data or digital infrastructure could be targeted as part of a broader conflict involving cyber attacks, they should look no further than the hack of ICRC’s servers that was announced in January, Raymond tells me.

“I can't overstate that this ICRC hack, regardless of attribution and regardless of intention — which may never be known in both cases — represents the fundamental ‘Pearl Harbor’ moment in humanitarian data protection,” he says.

On Wednesday, ICRC released more information about that hack, which compromised personal information of more than 515,000 people that the organization collected to help families separated by conflict, disaster, or migration find missing relatives.

Among the most alarming new details is that the hackers were inside ICRC’s servers for 70 days before the organization discovered they had been compromised. Even more alarming is that 70 days is actually short. For attacks of this size and complexity, the average time to discovery is 212 days.

For Raymond, the scariest thing about potential “state-like” targeting of the digital infrastructure of humanitarian groups responding in Ukraine — or anywhere, really — is that it could happen without them knowing about it. This could mean that hackers “attack the systems and sit there” with ongoing access to information about operations and personnel.

“Humanitarians, uniquely, have highly actionable intelligence about the most vulnerable populations on the worst day of their lives, and intelligence services can find that very useful to collect in real time,” he says.

Cyberwarfare: The 4 risks facing aid groups in Ukraine

ICYMI: We have an exclusive report on the cyberattack on ICRC, which its forensics analysis describes as a "highly sophisticated and targeted operation."  In January, Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office was also targeted in a “serious cyber security incident.”

In the workplace

African parliaments have a gender-based violence problem.

A study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the African Parliamentary Union found that:

• 80% of the female parliamentarians interviewed had experienced psychological violence on the job.

• 67% had been subject to sexist behavior or remarks from the public, people online, and fellow lawmakers.

• 23% had experienced physical violence.

• 45% of the female parliamentary staff interviewed also reported experiencing sexual harassment at work.

Rumbi Chakamba writes: “Women parliamentarians who weren’t members of the ruling party in their countries were found to be more vulnerable to all forms of violence, as were those who spoke out in support of women’s rights or gender equality. Incidents of violence were also found to be more prevalent among female parliamentarians who were unmarried, under 40, have a disability, or members of minority groups.”

Read: Report finds rampant abuse of women in African parliaments

Related: In a Devex exclusive, Rumbi also writes about an audit report that confirms the extensive allegations of not just sexual harassment, but also nepotism, corruption, financial mismanagement, and power abuse in the African Union Commission.

Bigger picture

It’s been just over a year since the United Kingdom’s full departure from the European Union, and the consequences of that historic split for U.K. development cooperation are coming into clearer view.

David Ainsworth reports that some early predictions have not panned out: The EU’s foreign aid budget has not suffered much from losing its British contributor, while any hopes that the U.K. might bolster its own bilateral funding have been dashed by the government’s sharp budget cuts.

The U.K. has absorbed damage to its brand as a home base for NGOs that previously wanted to associate with a “gold-standard development department,” David writes.

“Some that have the word ‘international’ in their name say they don’t reflect a truly international organization if they continue to be based in Brexit Britain,” says Diana Eggleston of The Hague Business Agency.

Devex Pro: One year out of the EU, what is the future for UK development?

+ Catch up on all the latest news and analysis of FCDO and the U.K. aid sector.

Scenario planning

The last few years have thrown a lot of variables at NGO leaders, requiring business strategies to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, political changes and policy agendas, and funding swings. David speaks with leaders from Christian Aid and MzN International to uncover what they’ve learned about making organizations more adaptive during a time of enormous and unpredictable change. Pro subscribers can watch the recording.

Watch: Setting an NGO business strategy for 2022

+ Not yet a Devex Pro subscriber? Experience it for free for 15 days and get access to essential analysis, data-driven funding insights, and access to the world’s largest global development job board.

Notes on Afghanistan

The Biden administration’s move to split $9 billion in frozen Afghan assets between potential humanitarian funding and payouts to the families of 9/11 victims has generated criticism from observers who say the money belongs to an Afghan population that needs it now more than ever. According to Ryan Grim at The Intercept, some of those critics include 9/11 families that chose not to opt-in to the effort to seize the central bank funds.

The Taliban is employing a “food for work” program that requires people to perform manual labor in order to receive humanitarian wheat aid that was given by India to the former Afghan government, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

Afghanistan aid: How can $3.5 billion be used for humanitarian causes in the country? The current details are vague. 

+ Stay up to date with all our coverage on aid and development assistance in Afghanistan.

Writers’ room

Netflix has announced a new show called “The Diplomat,” which will star Keri Russell as “a career diplomat who lands a high-profile job she's unsuited for in the midst of an international crisis.”

+ Let me know what you think Russell’s “high-profile job,” and the “international crisis” will be and I’ll report back in a future edition of Newswire with the best answers.

In other news

An aid pledging conference for Haiti held Tuesday brought in $600 million in pledges, which will go to helping the country recover from last year’s earthquake. [VOA]

European and African leaders gathered Wednesday for a working dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss new ways to combat terrorism in the Sahel as well as the withdrawal and redeployment of troops in the region. [EURACTIV]

U.N. chief António Guterres called for more disability-inclusive development during the opening of the Global Disability Summit on Wednesday in Oslo. [UN News]

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