Information and society: Amendments to the Law on information, information technology and information protection

Ministry of Economic Development of Russia has prepared a draft amendment to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection."

The bill is aimed at improving the effectiveness of information security in information systems of public and critically important facilities. It provides for the introduction to the law of such notions as "threat to the security of information" and "the vulnerability of information systems." In addition, it is proposed to oblige customers and operators of information systems of public and critically important facilities to take measures to protect information from unauthorized access and other activities which may entail the violation and (or) the cessation of operation of information systems and (or) critical facilities. At the same time, the measures to protect information of the government information systems should be applied during their creation, maintenance and modernization. The developers of the bill point out that more than four thousand mission-critical facilities is managed by non-profit organizations. This complicates the control of their security by the state.

The proposed amendments will allow the state to apply the rules to commercial sites of national importance. The source of the measures, rules and regulations will be the documents elaborated by the Federal Technical Committee of Russia and the Russian FSB. The bill provides that the provisions introduced will come into force from January 1, 2014.

The Russian Economic Development Ministry conducts public consultation on the amendments draft. As part of the consultation, all interested persons are invited to express their opinions.