Russia Fights against cyber crimes

Wan naCry ransomware attack on computers worldwide on 12^th May 2017, has raised the issue of cybercrimes as well as increased the pressure on governments across the globe to strengthen cyber security. Amidst the allegations of Russia’s involvement in the election hacking in US, Russia attempts to fight against cybercrimes within the country. On 30^th May 2017 the Russian authorities released a video of successful arrest of KRON a group of hackers, accused of stealing thousands of credit card and other bank details. Russia's Sberbank has also taken the lead to spread awareness and has initiated steps to prevent cybercrimes against banking institutions.

Role of Sberbank in tackling cybercrimes

Herman Gref the CEO of Sberbank stated that cybercrimes is the primary concern of the company and the it has been working towards tackling this issue. The company claims to be in possession of a technology that enables banks to monitor online against hacking attempts. Mr Gref further added that Sberbank has been successful in blocking 55 cyber-attacks in 2016 which has prevented theft worth $3 million on an average every week.

Analysis

Sberbank claims that there has been a shift from clients to banks in hacker attacks. As per reports suggest by the Central Bank data, from October-March, Russian Banks suffered a loss of more than $30 million. With increasing pressure questioning the ability of the government tackling the issues of cyber security, reports have been circulating regarding Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev holding a meeting with the top bankers in the country at Sberbank’s headquarters in Moscow.

The theme of the said meeting is “discussion of situations in banking system”. The primary focus of meeting would be cyber security and monitoring banking systems to prevent hacks.

Assessment

Terrorism has evolved over the years. David Rappaport in his article describes four waves of terrorism. The first being assassinations on 17^th and 18^th century. Second was the freedom struggle in the late 19^th century. Third was spread of communism and the fourth being religious terrorism. Today terrorism has taken up a new dimension in the form of cyber-attacks. This has become a worldwide concern. Cyber-attacks can cripple an entire nation within a span of few minutes. Russia has been accused of cyber-attacks against US, France amongst many other countries. Amidst these allegations, Russia is also vulnerable to such attacks. The arrest of KRON and the meeting at Sberbank is a positive step taken by Russian authorities. But question arises whether these steps is an attempt to divert attention of the international community from the Russia’s alleged involvement in various cyber-attacks.