Media specialists of the Russian Federation, in connection with the increasing frequency of attacks on the country’s information space, are developing bills to effectively combat telephone fraud and malicious sites.
Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation Alexander Shoitov spoke about this at a meeting of the Federation Council, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He noted that the bill, supported by the Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Justice, Roskomnadzor, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, will help prevent crimes committed using spoofed numbers.
“From February to March 2022, after the start of the SVO, there was a significant (increase - ed.) level of telephone fraud compared to the same period in 2021. The vast majority of them are committed by substituting a number. At the same time, the substitution takes place at internal junctions between Russian telecom operators,” Shoitov said.
He said that as part of the development and implementation of measures to counter this fraud, a bill was submitted to the Russian government to amend the Law “On Communications.”
“This bill provides for the establishment of an obligation for telecom operators to provide the Ministry of Digital Development with the information necessary to prevent threats and combat telephone fraud using a single portal of State Services, as well as expanding the list of responsibilities established by telecom operators for transmitting traffic to their network,” Shoitov shared.
The expert emphasized that through the Government Services Portal of the Russian Federation, citizens of the country will be able to check the authenticity of incoming calls.
“(The unified portal of State Services is being finalized in order to ensure that citizens can send information about telephone calls that arouse suspicion and check for the substitution of the number accompanying the call. A person sees that he is receiving a call, he suspects that the call is fraudulent, and turns to the single portal of State Services. We find and check the operator and, already having the relevant legal provisions, apply them. If it is discovered that the number has been replaced, the request will be sent to Roskomnadzor to take appropriate measures against the telecom operator that allowed it to be replaced,” he added.
Also, a representative of the Ministry of Digital Development spoke about another legislative initiative that would provide protection against phishing (fake) online resources.
“In order to combat criminal activity using phishing sites, a federal project has been prepared. This bill provides for the right of government bodies and citizen organizations, when a phishing resource is detected on the Internet, to send relevant information to the Ministry of Digital Development using an information system designed to counter such resources.
The bill contains the right of subjects of critical information infrastructure to send this information to the FSB of Russia,” Shoitov said.
He is convinced that thanks to this bill, the prompt response of law enforcement agencies to malicious activity on the Internet will significantly increase.