War In Ukraine

The past few years have been incredibly tumultuous and emotionally difficult for us all. As the CEO of SpecterOps, I have felt our employees, customers, and community were best served by us focusing our company (and our communication) on our work, providing as much normalcy in the workplace as possible given the upheaval of world events. Looking back, there are times I wish I had said and done more, but I have also been proud of the stability we were able to provide. In addition, while our industry has been arguably engaged in asymmetric warfare for decades, our fight has been a defensive one, focused on considered defensive preparation and measured action. We have spoken primarily in the technical jargon of our community and often seen little benefit to our mission in drawing attention through public declarations.

The world crossed a threshold four weeks ago with Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. This is not a matter of conflicting viewpoints. It is as clear a fight of good versus evil that we have seen in our lifetimes. We have all watched the country of Russia attempt to commit genocide against a people simply because they dared to dream of living free. All good people have wept at the sights of innocent civilians murdered for nothing but hollow lies.

However, we have also been fortunate to watch the incredible bravery of the Ukrainian people, virtually alone but unyielding against this terrible aggression, desperately fighting for the right to simply exist. In the end Ukraine will win; the Russian attackers broken against the strength of their people. But it is clear the price they will pay for their victory will be terrible, their freedom paid for in blood and unimaginable devastation to their beautiful country.

Across the immense tragedy of this war, I know the part our company can play is small. But, over these last hellacious weeks, the Ukrainian people have shown us the strength individuals demonstrate when they link arms and say “No” to evil. We will take inspiration from their example and follow in their footsteps. No matter how minor our part may be, we will show them that they are not alone in their fight.

For understandable reasons, our company already had a policy of not doing business with Russian organizations. It is easy to say that policy will continue into the far foreseeable future. In addition, starting today, we will donate $10,000 a month divided among the following organizations. We will continue these donations every month until the Russian attackers have withdrawn from Ukraine and ended their illegal invasion.

• Bellingcat — Donate — bellingcat — to support their efforts in documenting and recording the war crimes committed by the Russian military against the Ukrainian people
• International Committee of the Red Cross — UKRAINE CRISIS | International Committee of the Red Cross (icrc.org) — to support aiding in evacuations and providing shelter to refugees fleeing Russian atrocities
• The National Bank of Ukraine Fundraising Account for Ukraine’s Armed Forces — NBU Opens Special Account to Raise Funds for Ukraine’s Armed Forces (updated) (bank.gov.ua) — to support the defender’s efforts to prevent those atrocities from being committed

We will continue to give our voice of support to Ukraine, and I urge our community to also speak out and help where they can. I know it is a faint hope, but as the Ukrainian people have so bravely shown us, it is only through collective action that we might convince the Russian government to turn back from their destructive course.

Слава Україні!

War In Ukraine was originally published in Posts By SpecterOps Team Members on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.