On October 2, 2024, the Department of Cybersecurity of Khmelnytsky National University staff celebrates the thirty-fifth anniversary of the department's founding, which has gone through a long way of reorganization and transformation and has achieved significant success in various areas of activity.
The history of specialized departments in information technology began at KhNU in 1989 with the creation of the Department of Electronic Computing Systems. The department was established at the Faculty of Mechanics. The first head of the department was a candidate for technical sciences, Associate Professor Vitalii Bardachenko. At that time, the department had one associate professor and three assistants. Under the leadership of Bardachenko V. F., the department's teachers conducted research in the development and implementation of timer-bit-analog computing devices.
1991, the department was incorporated into the newly created Faculty of Radio Electronics. Almost at the same time, Doctor of Technical Sciences Professor Bardachenko V. F. received an offer to head his scientific direction at the Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics, which led to his move in 2002 to Kyiv, where he later became the director of the Center for Timer Computer Systems of the Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics.
In October 1992, the Department of Electronic Computing Systems was headed by Candidate of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher V. Lokaziuk. He laid the foundation for developing a new scientific school in the department, which dealt with the technical diagnostics of modern computer equipment.
In 1996, the history of the Department of Electronic Computing Systems was marked by the change of its name to the Department of Computer Systems.
During the existence of the Department of Computer Systems, it was licensed to open a master's degree program in Computer Systems and Networks, as well as a new speciality in System Programming. This resulted in a significant increase in the department's staff, and as of the beginning of 2004, the department employed more than twenty people. In this connection, during the reorganization of the structure of Khmelnytskyi National University in May 2004, the Department of Computer Systems was divided into two departments by separating a new subdivision - the Department of System Programming. During the reorganization, the Department of Computer Systems was renamed the Department of Computer Systems and Networks.
After the division of the departments, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor V. Lokadiuk headed the newly created Department of System Programming, and Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Y. Khmelnytsky was appointed Acting Head of the Department of Computer Systems and Networks. In 2005, a competition was held to fill the Head of the Department of Computer Systems and Networks position. The department was headed by Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor O. A. Myasishchev. Under the chairmanship of O. A. Myasishchev, a new scientific direction was launched at the department - research in building computer network components based on the TCP/IP protocol stack. In 2017, a new speciality, “Cybersecurity”, was opened at the department and received a new name - the Department of Cybersecurity and Computer Systems and Networks.
Since September 2019, following the competition results, the Head of the Department is Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Yurii Klets, who started his acquaintance with the Department in 1993 as a first-year student. Since 2019, the main research of the department has been conducted in the field of cybersecurity on the topic “Technologies and means of information protection”, and pedagogical activities are focused on the training of bachelor and masters in the speciality 125 “Cybersecurity and Information Protection”, whose educational and professional programs were successfully accredited in 2021 and 2022, respectively. In 2021, the department's name was aligned with the main direction of scientific and pedagogical activity - the Department of Cybersecurity.
The Department of Cybersecurity is actively involved in professional international projects, including the CRDF Global program for developing educational materials for Ukrainian universities, the USAID project “Cybersecurity of Ukraine's Critical Infrastructure,” and others.
The comprehensive support of the university administration and sponsorship from foreign partners enabled the Department of Cyber Security to become a powerful structural unit of Khmelnytsky National University with modern laboratories and its own cybersecurity research and training centre.
