Russia fights for security in Cyberspace

One of the main outcomes of Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Barack Obama on the sidelines of the "G-8” summit had been an agreement on confidence-building measures in Cyberspace. This contract involves the creation of a special hotline, which can be used in cases of cyber incidents. In fact, at issue is the equivalent of a direct channel of communication between Moscow and Washington, which existed during the cold war. The hotline will help prevent an escalation, if one of the parties by mistake decides that the other party attacked it in Cyberspace, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine Igor Korotchenko explains:

"Due to the fact that today cyber threats come to the fore, and issues of their parrying are the priority for any structures responsible for state security, Moscow and Washington would, of course, like to avoid misunderstandings in this rather delicate sphere. Putin and Obama have just prepared relevant agreements. This means that now, when some questions will require emergency clarification, the parties will be able to quickly and effectively solve all existing problems in the field of cyber security using this hotline channel”.

Russia does not intend to limit itself by concluding such agreements with the U.S. only. France and Germany are next on the waiting list. Moreover, negotiations with Paris on this issue will already begin in the coming days. However, this does not mean that in the foreseeable future, Cyberspace will become safe, since such troublemakers in this field, as China or Israel, are still let loose. The problem will be solved only through the adoption of rules common for all countries, General Director of the Group-IB company Ilya Sachkov argues:

"Until all countries using the Internet do not have uniform rules of the game, it will not become safer. Today, as far as legislation on the Internet is concerned, there is an absolute anarchy in any country. And the Internet is global. It cannot rely on the local laws of each country”.

Meanwhile, earlier, Russia had already put forward an initiative aimed at establishing uniform rules of counteraction to cyber terrorism. The draft of the corresponding Convention was submitted to the UNO. So far, the United States was opposing the adoption of this document. But perhaps now the situation will change, Director of business development of the Grotek Company Alexander Vlasov says:

"If the U.S. position is now beginning to change, then there is hope that may be we won’t conclude 180 agreements with each country individually, but a single agreement in the framework of the UNO will be signed that will probably be even more effective. And, as they say in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China has treated the Russian initiative favorably. Therefore, in my opinion, promotion of such initiatives through the United Nations and signing of binding agreements on a multilateral basis is more efficient than signing separate agreements with each country”.

 It is worth adding that the agreement on confidence-building measures in Cyberspace between Russia and the USA was held against the background of loud scandals. Not so long ago, Washington announced that Chinese hackers had made an unprecedented theft of American military technologies. And shortly after that, thanks to ex-NSA agent Snowden, it became known that only recently, the United States had committed 61 thousand hacking operations around the world.