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Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to set up division to fight cyber crime

Head of Sberbank Herman Gref said earlier that cooperation with the state needs to be expanded to combat cyber fraud

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs will create units to combat crimes in the field of high technology, including the Internet, official representative of the ministry Irina Volk told TASS on Friday.

"Russia's Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev decided to create departments within the ministry that would specialize in fighting cyber crimes," she said.

Volk noted that the new divisions will be formed on a sectoral basis within the existing staff in the central apparatus of the ministry and territorial internal affairs bodies.

Head of Sberbank Herman Gref said earlier that cooperation with the state needs to be expanded to combat cyber fraud. "We see that as the largest player we must create an ecosystem and cooperate with the state," he said. "The issue is the speed of response. If we talk about phishing, we need cooperation between telecom operators, regulators, and law enforcement agencies. Without such coordination, it does not matter what ultramodern reliable systems you build - you cannot hold anyone accountable. It’s a matter of creating a collaborative system," he said.

He added that Sberbank plans to strengthen data protection within the bank. Gref noted that the biggest cybersecurity problem is the internal vulnerability, when employees that create a security system and know it inside out, can exploit its weaknesses. He also noted that in other countries the responsibility for cyber fraud is higher.

Meanwhile, according to international company Group-IB report, the volume of the Russian Internet piracy market since the beginning of 2019 has decreased by 27% and amounted to $63.5 mln, signifying the first drop in volume over the past 5 years.

Group-IB Anti-Privacy experts began monitoring the Internet piracy market in Russia in 2015 - since then, volumes have grown annually, and only in 2019 for the first time showed a decline. Thus, in 2015, the volume of the Internet piracy market amounted to $32 mln, in 2016 it almost doubled - up to $62 mln, in 2017 - up to $85 mln, in 2018 - up to $87 mln. In 2019, according to experts, the decrease is around 27%, reaching $63.5 mln.