The Fight against Information Crime: International Legal Tools

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Cybercrime affects all countries, a concerted effort is needed to combat it effectively

“The growing scourge of cybercrime affects the entire planet now. It’s a problem that concerns all humanity. What makes cybercrime unique is that it is cross-border, global. This means that to combat and investigate it, teams of different specialists in different countries must work together,” Boris Miroshnikov, Vice President, Citadel Group of Companies.

“The Internet is increasingly becoming a vehicle for terrorist and extremist influences, to lure the younger generation into committing crimes. Last year, ICT-facilitated crime accounted for a quarter of all the crime committed in our country. These growing challenges and threats require a concerted and collaborative response, both nationally and internationally,” Sergey Plokhov, Deputy Head of an Oversight and Anticorruption Department of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

“Cybercrime is cross-border by definition, and therefore it is a challenge for every country in the world. Every country is under attack,” Dmitry Bukin, Deputy Director, Department of International Information Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

“Cyberterrorism has become more sophisticated. The Internet is being used for recruitment, for knocking out [of operation – Ed.] infrastructures that depend on information and communication technology. The government and businesses are switching to electronic systems, which is bringing about an irreversible transition to the digital information network that increases the opportunity for manipulation. It is critical for countries seeking prosperity to have systems of convergence and responsiveness,” Mzuvukile Jeff Maqetuka, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa to the Russian Federation.

PROBLEMS

Differences in legislation and different interpretations of cybercrime

“We see that there is an information war underway, and the main problem is not that we don’t know how to fight it, but that on international platforms today we lack instruments for common rules of play, common legislation, rapprochement,” Sergei Pospelov, Executive Secretary, Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

“Progress is such that it always presupposes that if one side brings prosperity, the other side is being exploited by criminals. And the sensible response would be to introduce a set of measures to protect against this misfortune. But each state interprets cybercrime differently, and each state has its own criminal code, derived from its own experience,” Boris Miroshnikov, Vice President, Citadel Group of Companies.

“Russia’s approach is to meet the challenges and develop a convention to combat the use of information and communication technologies for criminal purposes. Whereas a number of countries are in favour of narrowing the convention to just computer technology. But it’s not just computers nowadays – telephones, fax machines, satellite communication can be used. It’s a different kind of technology,” Dmitry Bukin, Deputy Director, Department of International Information Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

“In contrast to the narrow approach, our draft convention includes 23 offences, including extremism, the rehabilitation of Nazism, the involvement of minors in illegal activities and much more. What is the difference between computer crime and ICT crime? If you compare, computer crime accounts for approximately 1.5% of all crime committed with the use of ICTs. And Western countries propose combating only that,” Sergey Plokhov, Deputy Head of an Oversight and Anticorruption Department of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

“We are not dealing with a by-product of human progress: the Internet is the real dragon destroying national systems. The main obstacle we are faced with is the time frame for requests for legal assistance: with some countries it’s up to two years. [Another problem – Ed.] is the lack of timely data exchange through closed channels. It’s a technical point, and it makes work difficult for us,” Andrey Loginov, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation.

Respect for national sovereignty

“Another issue is the need to respect national sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs. Russia, the Arab world, many allies are in favour of this. Western countries represent the other camp and argue that the Internet has no borders,” Dmitry Bukin, Deputy Director, Department of International Information Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

SOLUTIONS

Bringing countries together in preparing the material and legal framework

“To [fight effectively – Ed.] there has to be training and knowledge, and a material and legal basis. A large set of measures has to be adopted, and it has to be an effort undertaken by all mankind,” Boris Miroshnikov, Vice President, Citadel Group of Companies.

Adopting a single convention

“Russia initiated the development process for the International Convention. We did this back in 2019 when the draft resolution was introduced [to the UN – Ed.] We consider a large number of countries to be like-minded – I would like to mention Iran, Egypt, India. We are open to dialogue with the whole world,” Dmitry Bukin, Deputy Director, Department of International Information Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Read more in the Roscongress Foundation Information and Analytical System roscongress.org

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