MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti) – President Vladimir Putin has signed a document giving Russia’s Federal Security Service the power to investigate cybercrime, the Kremlin announced Monday.
The FSB can now add information security to the list of topics it is authorized to investigate, alongside national, military, economic and environmental cases.
The addition is needed because of the growth of the “interstate information struggle,” notably the use of malicious software used to disrupt computer operations, gather sensitive information or gain access to private computer systems, the bill’s authors said.
Malware can be considered an information weapon.
An explanatory note to the bill said computer hacking has grown to an unprecedented scale, and information technology could be used to commit a terrorist attack.
