The Story Behind TIME’s ‘Resilience of Ukraine’ Cover

(Artwork by JR; Photograph by Artem Iurchenko. A drone was used to capture the cover image on March 14 in Lviv.)

    Since Russia’s invasion began, dozens of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children have been killed and thousands of others have fled in search of safety. Among those thousands is 5-year-old Valeriia from Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown in central Ukraine. Her image – a smiling child – appears on one of this issue’s covers.

    If you met Valeriia, you might think she’s shy, her mother Taisiia told TIME, but don’t be fooled; at home, she commands attention. She loves the same things as many little girls – her stuffed bunny; her Elsa doll fromCold Heart(which English speakers know as Frozen); and her pink backpack, which she had to leave behind as she ran off her country. Valeriia also has big dreams: in particular, starting her first year of school on Sept. 1. Now, it’s hard to say when and where Valeriia will be able to do so. On March 9, mother and daughter fled to Poland; for safety, they asked that TIME use only their first names. In an interview, Taisiia explained her decision to leave home to keep her child safe. “She is my sunshine, my joy.”

    According to Taisiia they woke up early in the morning of Feb. 24 to learn the occupying army had started bombing military bases. “I thought about my daughter, Valeriia; for her safety, I knew we had to go. We left Ukraine before we were bombarded, so we had a chance.” Even though Valeriia is with her now, husband and son stayed in Ukraine and therefore, it was very hard to leave. The day they left, the lines for buses and trainsstretched 3 km, mostly women and children, she says, “We were packed together and had to stand for 18 hours on the train to Lviv”.

    The Russians still haven’t come to their city. The people from Kryvyi Rih have fought them off. But they are closer and closer, and you can see them approaching. In the media, Russia says they aren’t at war in Ukraine. But the war is real. People are dying for real. “And here I am, with my sister, my nephew, and my mother in Poland, in a hotel near Warsaw. They take care of us and even in this difficult situation, it was a warm reception. I cannot find the words to express how grateful I am to everyone who has helped”, ends up a crying Taisiia.

(Available: https://time.com/magazine/europe. Adapted.)

Ten critical actions needed to address four major cybersecurity challenges:

Cybersecurity: An overview of cyber challenges facing the nation, and actions needed

Federal agencies and the nation’s critical infrastructure — such as energy, transportation systems, communications, and financial services — depend on Information Technology (IT) systems to carry out operations and process essential data. However, the risks to these IT systems are increasing—including insider threats from witting or unwitting employees, escalating and emerging threats from around the globe, and the emergence of new and more destructive attacks. Rapid developments in new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and ubiquitous Internet and cellular connectivity, can also introduce security issues. Over 28,000 security incidents were reported by federal civilian agencies to the Department of Homeland Security in FY 2019.

Additionally, since many government IT systems contain vast amounts of personally identifiable information (PII), federal agencies must protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of this information—and effectively respond to data breaches and security incidents. Likewise, the trend in the private sector of collecting extensive and detailed information about individuals needs appropriate limits.

To highlight the importance of these issues, Government Accountability Office (GAO) has designated information security as a government-wide high-risk area since 1997. This high-risk area was expanded in 2003 to include the protection of critical cyber infrastructure and, in 2015, to include protecting the privacy of PII.

GAO has made about 3,300 recommendations to federal agencies to address cybersecurity shortcomings—and we reported that more than 750 of these had not been fully implemented as of December 2020. We designated 67 as priority, meaning that we believe they warrant priority attention from heads of key departments and agencies.

Adapted from: https://www.gao.gov/cybersecurity. Available on November 16th, 2022