Plan for implementing anti-cybercrime concept approved by Russian govt

MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - The Russian government has approved an action plan for implementing the Concept of a State System for Countering Crimes Committed Using Information and Communication Technologies, and the corresponding directive has been signed, according to a statement on the government's website.

"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 a law on criminal liability for droppers has come into force. The approved plan is another step in creating an effective system to counter telephone and internet fraudsters. It synchronizes the work of all departments to achieve a common goal - forming a comfortable and secure digital environment," the statement quotes Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, who oversees the preparation of anti-fraud measures, as saying.

The document includes a set of measures to improve legislation, provide technical countermeasures against malicious actors and increase the digital literacy of the population, the government's press service said.

"Among the key areas of the plan are improving legislation and interagency cooperation. In particular, the issue of establishing an obligation for telecom operators, internet providers, organizers of disseminating information and other entities to notify law enforcement agencies of identified indications of crimes committed using digital technologies will be worked out," the statement said.

This work will be undertaken by the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Digital Development Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) in cooperation with the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee. Based on its results, the government may propose changes to the current legislation in Q3 2027, the statement said.

Also by Q3 2027, the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Digital Development Ministry, the Economic Development Ministry, the FSB and Roskomnadzor, with the assistance of the Prosecutor General's Office, "will present proposals on increasing liability for violations of legislation in the field of personal data."

"Thus, it is proposed to increase the statute of limitations for bringing administrative liability for such offenses," the statement said.

"Significant attention in the concept is paid to preventing offenses and crimes committed using internet technologies; measures related to this area are also presented in its implementation plan," it said.

The Digital Development Ministry, the Culture Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Science and Higher Education Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Internal Affairs Ministry, and the Central Bank of Russia are instructed to continuously conduct measures to improve citizens' digital and financial literacy as well as their awareness of methods used to commit crimes and protection against them.

"Such preventive measures include, among other things, creating and placing social advertising in the media. A separate area of work is preventing minors' involvement in digital crimes. A repository of preventive materials will support such activities. It could be formed as early as the second quarter of 2026," the statement said. The Digital Development Ministry, the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Economic Development Ministry, Roskomnadzor, the Central Bank and a number of other agencies are designated as responsible for this.

"Another innovation related to prevention is the integration of a mandatory citizen information module about potential crimes into the main mobile applications used for interaction with government bodies, as well as into banking and socially significant applications," the government said. The Digital Development Ministry and the Internal Affairs Ministry are instructed to work on this issue by Q1 2027.

According to the statement, the plan is not limited to prevention.

"Among the technical measures to counter fraudsters is the creation of a unified register of electronic addresses for the official websites of popular online stores. This will make it possible to increase the effectiveness of the fight against their electronic duplicates, which fraudsters use to steal personal information. A unified register could be created in the third quarter of 2026 through the efforts of the Digital Development Ministry, the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the FTS [Federal Tax Service], Roskomnadzor and other government structures," the statement said.

Among other technical measures to combat fraudsters is the development of an algorithm for detecting artificial intelligence technology used in the commission of cybercrimes.

The search for such solutions will be undertaken by the Digital Development Ministry, the Internal Affairs Ministry and Roskomnadzor. Completion of the work is planned for Q1 2028.

The government's press service recalled that the Concept of the State System for Countering Crimes Committed Using Information and Communication Technologies was approved in December 2024 in accordance with the president's decree on national development goals.