MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. A huge rise in data leaks on the Internet last year is connected with the cyber war being waged against Russia, Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said at a plenary session during the BIS Innovation Summit 2023.

"The explosive growth of leaks in 2022 is directly related to the special military operation and the cyber warfare that is being waged against Russia today, including purposeful attempts to break into our various information systems by hackers working in the interests of our adversaries," said Khinshtein, who chairs the State Duma Committee on Informational Policy, Technologies and Communications.

In his opinion, the rise in leaks seen in 2020-2021 is due to the fact that the use of digital services has skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic, and hackers have taken advantage of it.

The lawmaker, however, stressed that "in no way the military-political aspect of the growth of personal data leaks should be dismissed."