The Impact of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict on the Cloud Computing Risk Landscape

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally altered the information technology (IT) risk landscape, particularly in cloud computing environments. This paper examines how this geopolitical conflict has accelerated data sovereignty concerns, transformed cybersecurity paradigms, and reshaped cloud infrastructure strategies worldwide. Through an analysis of documented cyber operations, regulatory responses, and organizational adaptations between 2022 and early 2025, this research demonstrates how the conflict has served as a catalyst for a broader reassessment of IT risk. The research reveals that while traditional IT risk frameworks offer foundational guidance, their standard application may inadequately address the nuances of state-sponsored threats, conflicting data governance regimes, and the weaponization of digital dependencies without specific geopolitical augmentation. The contribution of this paper lies in its focused synthesis and strategic adaptation of existing best practices into a multi-layered approach. This approach uniquely synergizes resilient cloud architectures (including sovereign and hybrid models), enhanced data-centric security strategies (such as advanced encryption and privacy-enhancing technologies), and geopolitically-informed governance to build digital resilience. The interplay between these layers, emphasizing how geopolitical insights directly shape architectural and security choices beyond standard best practices-particularly by integrating the human element, including personnel vulnerabilities and expertise, as a core consideration in technical design and operational management-offers a more robust defense against the specific, multifaceted risks arising from geopolitical conflict in increasingly fractured digital territories.