MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on ratifying an agreement on cooperation between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in the fight against cyber crimes.

The document was published on the official portal of legal information.

The agreement was inked in September 2018 at the meeting of the CIS Heads of State Council in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The document is aimed at establishing modern legal mechanisms for practical interaction of Russian competent authorities with colleagues from other CIS countries for effectively preventing, detecting, thwarting, investigating and solving cyber crimes.

This involves cooperation in the exchange of data on impending or committed crimes and persons behind them, responding to the calls for assistance in providing data that can facilitate the investigation as well as coordinated operations.

The agreement defines such terms as malware, data system, unauthorized access to information. The document also establishes that the parties, in line with their national legislation, recognize as criminal offenses the destruction, blocking, modification or copying of data obtained in an unauthorized way, the creation of computer viruses, violation of the rules for using a computer system, if this entailed grave consequences as well as theft by changing the data stored in the system.

Furthermore, the agreement covers such acts as the distribution of pornography, extremist materials on the Internet, the creation of software and hardware for hacking computers and copyright violation.

Under the agreement, the sides will exchange information about impending or committed crimes and ways to prevent them, perpetrators as well as coordinate joint activities. It also stipulates internships for specialists, seminars, the creation of data protection programs, the exchange of scientific publications and regulatory legal acts.