Ukraine is consistently at the epicenter of cyberattacks and is one of the key targets for attackers in Eastern Europe amid growing geopolitical instability in early 2026. This is stated in the first Cyber Pulse report from Mastercard, dedicated to studying the cyber threat landscape in the EEMEA region (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa).
Ukraine is consistently at the epicenter of cyberattacks and is one of the key targets for attackers in Eastern Europe amid growing geopolitical instability in early 2026. This is stated in the first Cyber Pulse report from Mastercard, dedicated to studying the cyber threat landscape in the EEMEA region (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa).
The analytics are based on data from the Mastercard Cyber Insights platform, cyber resilience assessments from the RiskRecon tool, as well as information from Recorded Future, which Mastercard acquired in December 2024 to continuously monitor emerging cyber threats.
According to the report, the Middle East was the most frequent target of cyberattacks over the past 12 months, followed by Eastern Europe, with 71% of all recorded cybercrimes in the EEMEA region aimed at financial gain or the complete destabilization of organizations and critical systems.
The main targets of hackers are business systems, confidential customer data and physical infrastructure — they account for 66% of all incidents. The government, technology and financial sectors are under the greatest pressure, accumulating 44% of all attacks due to the concentration of valuable data and their critical role in the functioning of the digital economy.
Attackers most often use classic scenarios: malware, ransomware, and social engineering methods via email. At the same time, analysts advise businesses to pay special attention to web application security and improve encryption processes.
Inga Andreeva, General Director of Mastercard in Ukraine and Moldova, emphasized the importance of systemic counteraction to cyber threats at the local level.
«Cyber resilience has always been a priority for Mastercard in Ukraine — both in our cooperation with the government and business, and in our broader efforts to support the country’s digital economy. In particular, cybersecurity is one of the key areas of our strategic cooperation with the National Bank of Ukraine within the framework of the signed Memorandum of Understanding, as well as within the digital partnership with the Government of Ukraine,» said Inga Andreeva.
Recall that last year, the CERT-UA team at the State Service for Special Communications, which responds to cyber incidents, processed 5,927 cyberattacks. This is 37,4% more than in 2024 — then there were 4,315.
