Since 2023, the IT Ukraine Association has been systematically working on the “Hostile Software” project, aimed at banning russian software and supporting the transition to safe Ukrainian and international solutions.
Maria Shevchuk, Executive Director of the IT Ukraine Association, shared key insights on the project’s progress in an article for Ekonomichna Pravda:
- It is the hostile software product itself that should be banned, not merely the companies’ activities. Previous attempts proved ineffective: sanctioned vendors simply changed names and legal entities and carried on operating. The new approach needs to clearly define the criteria for “hostile” software.
- BAS is not an alternative to 1C. The product that has been positioned in Ukraine for years as a European alternative to 1C is technically built on the same platform, with identical architecture and code. It is still being actively sold and implemented.
- A new draft law needs to regulate the entire market chain: sellers of russian software, the integrators who implement it, and end users. The first two categories should face appropriate bans and restrictions, while users should be given a transition period and the opportunity to prepare for the switch.
- For large businesses, the main problem isn’t the cost of 1C licences or a lack of alternatives. Our research shows the market already offers plenty of modern accounting solutions. The real barrier is reluctance to change a system that, after years of use, feels familiar and non-critical to the business.
- After years of running on 1C, companies have built their business processes and custom solutions around it. So switching to different software often means rebuilding a significant part of the IT system. At the same time, modern alternatives are already available on the Ukrainian market.
Delaying the switch is becoming increasingly risky. In the first half of 2026, CERT-UA processed 3,309 cyber incidents – 9.6% more than in the same period of 2025.
The article also covers:
- Scale in the public sector: government institutions have spent UAH 1.2 billion on russian software since the start of the full-scale invasion
- Software in the army and Diia: requirements for 1C or BAS proficiency appear in job postings from the Diia state enterprise, military units, TCCs and defence enterprises
- Conditions in the defence sector: food suppliers to the Armed Forces of Ukraine are required to abandon banned software in order to integrate with Ministry of Defence systems, whereas no such requirement is currently mandatory in contracts with arms manufacturers
- Critical risks: why using russian software creates a “supply chain” threat, where updates could introduce intelligence service “backdoors” into the system, as happened with the NotPetya virus
- Legislative gaps: why sanctions against developer companies have failed to stop the use of the products themselves, and why Ukraine still has no penalties in place for using hostile software
Read more in the Ekonomichna Pravda article: https://epravda.com.ua/tehnologiji/ukrajinskiy-biznes-dosi-vikoristovuye-rosiyskiy-soft-riziki-ta-zakonodavstvo-824465/
