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- Digital defense: the Cabinet of Ministers approved a plan to implement the concept of countering cybercrime
Digital defense: the Cabinet of Ministers approved a plan to implement the concept of countering cybercrime
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved an action plan for the implementation of the Concept of countering Cybercrime. The document includes a set of measures to improve legislation, technical counteraction to intruders and increase digital literacy of the population. The tasks reflected in the plan raise issues in key areas of cybersecurity, experts say. However, they are convinced that responsible agencies need to carefully approach their implementation in order not to disrupt business operations in an effort to protect citizens. Izvestia investigated whether the approved measures would help in combating crimes committed online.
Everything is according to plan
The Government has approved an action plan for the implementation of the Concept of a State system for countering crimes committed using information and communication technologies. The relevant decree was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The document includes a set of initiatives to improve legislation, technical counteraction to intruders and increase digital literacy of the population. Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the Government Staff, oversees the preparation of the relevant measures.
"The government is systematically strengthening measures to protect citizens from fraudsters. A set of 30 priority measures has already been adopted and is being implemented, and the law on criminal liability for droppers has entered into force. The approved plan is another step in creating an effective system to counter telephone and Internet fraud. It synchronizes the work of all departments to achieve the common goal of creating a comfortable and secure digital environment," the Deputy Prime Minister stressed, commenting on the approval of the action plan.
One of the key areas of the plan is interagency cooperation. According to it, telecom operators, Internet service providers, organizers of information dissemination and other structures may be required to report cases of signs of cybercrime to law enforcement agencies. The Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Finance, the FSB, Roskomnadzor, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee will work together in this direction. A corresponding legislative initiative may appear in the third quarter of 2027.
By the same date, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the FSB and Roskomnadzor, with the assistance of the Prosecutor General's Office, should submit proposals to increase responsibility for violations of the law on personal data. It is proposed, in particular, to increase the statute of limitations for bringing to administrative responsibility for such offenses.
At the same time, considerable attention is paid to the prevention of cybercrime in the concept. As part of this work, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Bank of Russia will regularly hold events to improve the digital and financial literacy of the population. Agencies should teach Russians about methods of committing crimes in the digital environment and protecting themselves from them, including through the creation and placement of social advertising in the media.
A separate area of work provided for in the plan is the prevention of the involvement of minors in cybercrimes. The depository of preventive materials, which can be formed in the second quarter of 2026, will provide assistance with its implementation. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Development, Roskomnadzor, the Central Bank and a number of other departments have been appointed responsible for its creation.
In addition, as part of the preventive work, a module for mandatory informing citizens about possible crimes will be integrated into the main mobile applications used to interact with government agencies, as well as into banking and socially significant applications. The relevant issue should be worked out by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs by the first quarter of 2027.
However, cybercrime prevention is not the only area of work in the plan. A technical measure to counter fraudsters will be the creation of a unified register of addresses of electronic links to the official websites of popular online stores. The initiative is aimed at combating electronic duplicates of such resources used to steal personal data. A similar registry may be created in the third quarter of 2026 by the efforts of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Tax Service, Roskomnadzor and other government agencies.
Another measure of technical fight against fraud involves the development of an algorithm for detecting artificial intelligence technology in the commission of cybercrimes. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Roskomnadzor will look for such solutions. They should complete this work in the first quarter of 2028.
The editorial board of Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers responsible for monitoring the implementation of the plan. No response has been received at the time of publication.
Balance of interests
Last year, Russians lost 240 billion rubles from fraudsters, recalls Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. And the main difficulty in combating intruders is that often law enforcement practice does not keep up with the actions of cybercriminals.
— The task of the state now is to reduce as much as possible the delay between the appearance of certain forms of crimes, the adoption of a regulatory framework and the fight. We have accelerated in this direction, but if we talk about scammers, they work even faster," the expert draws attention.
The tasks reflected in the action plan for the implementation of the concept of countering cybercrime raise issues in key areas of cybersecurity, said Sergey Babkin, Director of Information Security at Reksoft.
— Among them are personal data, raising awareness of citizens, public—private partnership in the field of cybersecurity, modernization of legislation, artificial intelligence, operational investigative activities, international cooperation, and so on. In all these areas, the stages of implementing specific initiatives are important," the Izvestia interlocutor lists.
Potentially, such a set of measures will make it possible to more effectively counter cyber attacks, said Sergey Golovanov, chief expert at Kaspersky Lab.
— However, it is large-scale, and responsible agencies need to carefully approach its implementation so as not to disrupt the work of businesses in an effort to protect citizens. We hope that each item will be discussed with the expert community and its suggestions will be taken into account," emphasizes Alla Khrapunova, Deputy project Manager of the Popular Front for Borrowers' Rights, curator of the Moshelovka platform.
Potential difficulties may be related to resources, including financial ones, which are necessary for the implementation of the entire package of measures, Golovanov does not exclude.
Focus on results
Sergey Babkin sees the most interesting areas of work in the plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers as the development and implementation of measures to support young professionals involved in countering illegal acts, and the implementation of measures aimed at improving the level of digital and financial literacy of citizens.
"The training of professional and competent personnel, combined with public awareness, provides a certain potential for the hygiene of the use of information technology in our society and countering cybercrime," the expert believes.
Today, it is important to teach people the rules of information security, because a more informed attitude towards the use of devices and confidential data will help significantly reduce the number of potential incidents, adds Sergey Golovanov.
The implementation of proposals to use the public-private partnership mechanism may provide additional resources to achieve the results the country needs in this area, Babkin admits.
Meanwhile, the task of developing an algorithm for detecting artificial intelligence technologies in illegal activities and a track for the use of AI technologies, neural networks and machine learning to search the Internet for prohibited content and subsequently restrict access to it are relevant and still practically unexplored topics in the field of cybersecurity, Babkin clarifies. Today they need legislative regulation.
The issues related to regulating the use of AI in ensuring cybersecurity and its use in personal data systems and critical information infrastructure will be the most difficult in the implementation of the concept, the expert believes.
— The technologies are still quite new and are under active development. It is always difficult to legislate in such areas, as progress is faster than regulations are approved," he explains.
The development and implementation of new technologies for the interception, preservation and use of digital evidence is also a rather difficult and urgent task, the Izvestia interlocutor adds.
— Here, the updating of methods should correspond to the methods of intruders, therefore, an audit of this area should be carried out on an ongoing basis, — Babkin is convinced.
Among the tasks that can help government agencies in the fight against cyberbullying, Alla Khrapunova highlights the exchange of information, training and professional development of employees. Addressing these issues will have a positive impact on the fight against cybercrime, as staffing and technical shortages in law enforcement agencies are one of the causes of problems in investigating and bringing attackers to justice.
— Today it is extremely important to stop the pandemic called "cyberbullying" as soon as possible. Therefore, let's hope that the decisions developed within the framework of the concept will be balanced and contain effective control mechanisms that will prevent the formal fulfillment of assigned tasks," the Izvestia interlocutor summarizes.
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