External data: Putin urged to protect key areas from cyber aggression

Cyber threats against the Russian economy and logistics have reached a fundamentally new level, so it is necessary to radically improve all the country's digital security mechanisms. Vladimir Putin stated this on October 14 at a profile meeting. The government and business are joining forces in a single "cyber shield": from import substitution and closing legislative gaps to joint physical protection of data centers with the Ministry of Defense. IT market experts warn that the parallel use of outdated foreign software and new Russian platforms creates special risks. Regulatory barriers also prevent businesses from promptly informing the security services about incidents.

Digital contour and technological sovereignty

Increasing the level of digital security and strengthening the country's technological independence were discussed on October 14 at a meeting hosted by Vladimir Putin. The level of representation of departments at it was the highest — Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu, Director of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov, Head of the Ministry of Defense Andrei Belousov, Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, as well as heads of other relevant ministries, departments and companies.

Vladimir Putin stressed that end-to-end digitalization has become the main engine of the economy and society, which means that its protection is directly related to the development of the country.

"Russia is consistently strengthening its sovereignty today, and in all areas, from basic food and energy security to digital infrastructure," the president stated.

At the same time, the digital contour of the country is already emerging: AI-based services are being actively introduced, advanced approaches in the field of data storage, processing and transmission are being used, communication tools and digital platforms are being developed. This work is coordinated by Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy head of the presidential Administration, and Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister, within the framework of a specially created presidential commission on AI and an interdepartmental working group on the platform economy.

According to experts, the key challenge in building a sovereign digital circuit is the abandonment of vulnerable foreign software and a competent transition to domestic solutions, as well as the docking of old and new systems. The point is that when foreign software is rejected, a "zoo" of programs often arises: when foreign services try to make friends with Russian ones, hackers find loopholes in these joints, Pro-Vision Communications CEO Vladimir Vinogradov explained to Izvestia.

And Sergey Semikin, CEO of Giant Computer Systems, drew attention to the risks of open source products. When using such software, developers are required to continuously monitor the vulnerabilities of the original project and check their own improvements so as not to create new security gaps.

Response to external aggression

The rapid development of digital technologies inevitably creates new risks. Against the background of hybrid and direct external aggression, cyber threats against transport, logistics, the financial sector and public administration systems are reaching a whole new level. To effectively neutralize these risks, the president called on security forces, intelligence agencies, IT giants and financial organizations to work in a single bundle.

"It is necessary to improve all components of the domestic digital security system, including risk assessment and analysis, mechanisms for monitoring dependence on external platforms, as well as rapid response tools to cyber attacks," Vladimir Putin stressed.

The issue of protecting critical infrastructure has become particularly acute amid a series of recent attacks, although the Kremlin indicated that the meeting was not related to the escalated situation and was "systemic in nature." Earlier, Yandex facilities in the Kaluga, Ryazan and Vladimir regions were hit by UAVs, which caused disruptions in the operation of a number of services. In addition, the Sberbank data center in Balakovo in the Saratov region was attacked by drones the day before - the bank switched the systems to secure mode, maintaining the normal operation of the services. It is noteworthy that the first speaker in the closed part of the meeting with the president was the head of Sberbank, German Gref.

The topic of cybersecurity is increasingly on the president's agenda, as the Kremlin has previously acknowledged. Official representative Dmitry Peskov stressed that AI technologies increase efficiency, but at the same time there are attempts by a number of states to use these new technologies in order to turn them into weapons — the so-called "weaponization of artificial intelligence."

This poses threats to entire sectors of any country's economy. Among the striking examples is the use of AI by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for strikes against Russia. In the context of discussing geopolitical risks and the arms race in the field of AI, experts most often refer to the United States and China as actively developing military technologies. According to political scientist Tatiana Kosacheva, Russia also has a strong fundamental base, human resources and cybersecurity technologies, but it still has to catch up in the field of large-scale computing power and the production of chips for AI.

According to Sergey Semikin, the vulnerability factors remain the use of outdated foreign software without updates (for example, available from Microsoft Exchange servers) and the introduction of AI by both warring parties in any conflict. To neutralize the threats, the expert called, in particular, for reducing fines and regulatory pressure on businesses in general. Because of this, companies refrain from promptly informing the security services about the incidents that have occurred.

The threats have already reached the physical level. As Vladimir Vinogradov notes, in 2026, the number of attacks on logistics jumped by 75%, and recent attacks on Yandex and Sberbank data centers have shown that the enemy is trying to physically destroy the nodes that support the services of the entire country. In these circumstances, the state is radically changing its approach to security. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense have already started creating a unified data center security system, where the military is responsible for physical protection and air defense, and the state is responsible for duplicating communication channels.