Increasing Cyber Attacks Forces Putin To Increase Russia's Cybersecurity

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, wants to improve Russia's cybersecurity. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, May 20 that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign "state structures" had increased severalfold. He stated that Russia should strengthen its cyber defenses by reducing the use of foreign-produced software and hardware.

The websites of many state-owned companies and news sites have experienced sporadic hacking attempts since Russia sent its armed forces to Ukraine on February 24. Often these cyber attacks are used to display information that contradicts Moscow's official line on the conflict.

"Targeted efforts are underway to deactivate the internet resources of Russia's critical information infrastructure," Putin said. He also added that the media and financial institutions had been targeted.

"Serious attacks have been launched against official websites of government agencies. Attempts to illegally penetrate corporate networks of leading Russian companies are also much more frequent," he said, as quoted by Reuters.

In a meeting with the Security Council, Putin said that Russia needs to improve information security in key sectors and switch to using domestic technology and equipment.

"Restrictions on foreign IT, software, and products have become one of the tools of sanctions pressure against Russia," Putin said. “A number of Western suppliers have unilaterally stopped technical support of their equipment in Russia.”

He said cases of programs being blocked after being updated are becoming more frequent. State communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Wednesday, May 18 also said it had blocked a website that hosts the personal data of a number of the company's clients. However, they did not mention the name of the company.

Russia's second-largest bank, VTB, was quoted by media as saying some customer phone numbers had been leaked but there was no risk to their funds.

E-commerce player Wildberry and online marketplace Avito denied reports in Russian media that their data had been leaked.

A data leak in early March also revealed the personal details of more than 58,000 people on tech giant Yandex's food delivery app, Yandex.Eda.

Yandex.Eda's competitor, Delivery Club, last Friday apologized to users after experiencing a data leak for orders placed by users.

"The data includes information about the order and does not affect bank details. We are doing our best to prevent the spread of the data," the TASS news agency quoted the company as saying.

Hacking attacks this month have also taken video hosting site RuTube offline for three days and changed satellite television menus in Moscow on Victory Day, when Russia celebrates the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany.

Moscow has long sought to improve its domestic internet infrastructure, even disconnecting itself from the global internet during testing last summer.

However, the unprecedented barrage of Western sanctions imposed in response to Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine has increased pressure to make Russia's IT systems more resilient.