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The Ukrainian government has fired two of its most senior cybersecurity officials following accusations of alleged embezzlement.<\/p>\n
Yurii Shchyhol, head of Ukraine\u2019s Ukraine\u2019s State Special Communications Service of Ukraine, or SSSCIP, and his deputy Victor Zhora (pictured), who served as deputy chairman and chief digital transformation officer at SSSCIP, were both dismissed by the government, according to senior cabinet official Taras Melnychuk in a public post on Telegram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Melnychuk did not give a reason for the dismissals.<\/p>\n SSSCIP confirmed in a statement<\/a> on Monday that Ukraine\u2019s cabinet had appointed Dmytro Makovskyi as the acting head of SSSCIP, citing an ongoing investigation by Ukraine\u2019s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).\u00a0NABU said in a press release<\/a>\u00a0 that several members of senior SSSCIP leadership are accused of misusing and embezzling more than $62 million in state funds.<\/p>\n When reached for comment, Zhora told TechCrunch: \u201cI have nothing to add to SSSCIP statement at the moment. I will defend my name and reputation in a court.\u201d<\/p>\n Shchyhol could not be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n Reuters first reported<\/a> the departures. SSSCIP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It\u2019s not clear whether U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA, a close partner of the Ukrainian government and SSSCIP, was aware of the firing or given prior notice. A CISA spokesperson did not respond at the time of writing.<\/p>\n U.S. officials have long touted their close relationship with SSSCIP and Zhora, in particular.\u00a0Zhora and CISA director Jen Easterly signed a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Ukrainian governments<\/a> months after Russia\u2019s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Zhora was most recently in the U.S. to give a keynote speech at cybersecurity conference Cyberwarcon. Earlier this year, Zhora and Easterly were interviewed together on stage at the Black Hat security conference<\/a> in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n