Shadow of knowledge: penalties for leaks of bank and tax data to be toughened
Imprisonment and compulsory labor may become the main punishment for illegally obtaining and using information constituting commercial, tax or banking secrets. Thedraft law developed by the Ministry of Finance has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, Izvestia has learned. Now apply including fines, but if the amendments are adopted, they will remain only as an addition to the appointed term. The authors point out that data leakage poses a threat to citizens, and separately note that it is often obtained from customs databases. Experts doubted that the amendments will become a significant obstacle to the theft of Russians' data, and predicted an increase in the value of such information on the black market.
What will be the punishment for leaks
The penalties for illegally obtaining and using information that constitutes a commercial, tax or banking secret may change. The Ministry of Finance proposed to toughen the punishment, leaving only penalties of imprisonment and forced labor. These amendments were approved on Monday, January 13, by the Government Commission on Legislative Activity (the document is at Izvestia's disposal), as reported by the editorial board's sources in the Cabinet.
- The Ministry of Finance, together with law enforcement agencies, proposes to toughen the punishment under Part 3, 4 of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Disclosure of information constituting commercial, tax or banking secrets")," explained Anton Sonichev, partner of the law firm "Sonichev, Kazus and Partners". - Thus, in part 3 it is now impossible to impose a fine, and appointed either forced labor with a ban on holding certain positions, or imprisonment with a fine. In the fourth part, a penalty in the form of a fine is also added to imprisonment.
The court may now choose whether to impose a fine or imprisonment on a defendant under this section. The terms will vary from two to seven years depending on the gravity of the crime, and the monetary sanction will be an additional punishment, Vladimir Gruzdev, chairman of the board of the Russian Bar Association, told Izvestia. At the same time, the maximum amount of fines will increase from 1.5 million to 5 million rubles.
Anton Sonichev believes thatthe amendments are necessary due to the increasing number of cases of theft of various databases.
- Such databases, as a rule, are later sold, and they can be accessed by an unlimited number of people. It is to fight against sellers of databases that tougher penalties are proposed. Ordinary citizens will not be particularly affected by these changes," he said.
The bill has been prepared in fulfillment of the President's instruction to strengthen liability for illegal receipt and use of commercial, tax or banking secrets, including those contained in the databases of customs authorities, added the chairman of the board of the UBA.
- According to Article 102 of the Tax Code, the information contained in the databases of customs authorities constitutes a tax secret, as it contains information about taxpayers and payers of insurance contributions," he reminded. - Taking into account the processes of digitalization of customs clearance and control, the introduction of customs procedures with the use of artificial intelligence, special attention is paid to the implementation of measures to identify and suppress leakage channels.
Thus, during the inspections 65 information resources providing access to information from the databases of customs authorities containing tax secrets were revealed, Vladimir Gruzdev noted.
- The activity of such information resources is blocked; persons involved in such crimes are brought to criminal responsibility, - he explained. - But the black market of illegal trafficking of such information continues to grow, and unlawful acts have a recidivistic nature. In addition, under the current conditions of external sanctions pressure, the preservation of established production and technological chains is of particular importance.
Such crimes contribute to the restriction of competition in the market of goods, works and services, emphasized the Chairman of the Board of the UBA.
- The analysis of law enforcement practice shows that the penalties imposed for such crimes are not comparable with their socially dangerous consequences," the expert added.
The bill has been coordinated with the FSB, FCS, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Prosecutor General's Office and Investigative Committee. The Prosecutor General's Office, in particular, noted in its response to the government apparatus (Izvestiya has it) that the establishment of higher penalties "seems relevant, since one of the key consequences of the illegal circulation of the above confidential information is economic damage".
How data is stolen from customs
The FCS data is one of the most demanded products on the black and gray markets, which is used by importers to monitor each other, and market analysts - to build a real picture of commodity flows. Ashot Oganesyan, founder of the DLBI data leak intelligence and darknet monitoring service, told Izvestia.
- There was a period when some customs statistics were sold semi-officially," he said. - Now this practice has been stopped, but insider sales continue to flourish.
According to Ashot Hovhannisyan, the declaration data allow unfriendly states to reveal parallel import schemes and participants in the chains of sub-sanctioned supplies in order to hold them accountable for violation of the sanctions regime
A source close to the security services told Izvestia that the theft of massive amounts of information from customs databases is rather of strategic importance. It can be used by special services of hostile countries.
- Having access to the customs database and knowing the nomenclature of certain goods, you can get information about the movement of strategic raw materials, - explained the interlocutor. - It also gives competitive advantages when doing business related to export-import operations. But first of all, we are talking about an obvious threat to national security.
As for leaks from banks, most often they occur due to data theft within the organization or through bribery of its employees, said Anton Sonichev.
- Banks, as it seems, are more serious about their security, so there are fewer leaks," he said.
"Izvestia" has already written that Russia will introduce negotiable fines for leaks of personal data and their illegal processing.
From the banks most often, according to the source, to the Network fall data on bank cards, open accounts. Such information, for example, can often be found in Telegram-bots.
- These data are used by fraudsters, as victims are more willing to believe them when they are given the true data of their bank products," he said. - That is, we are talking about primary personal data: bank card numbers, account numbers. And in rare cases - about the presence of funds on them.
Stricter punishment will reduce the flow of leaks, but it is unlikely to stop it completely, believes Ashot Oganesyan. In particular, it concerns customs databases, because, as practice shows, strengthening the responsibility for leaks leads primarily to an increase in the price of these data on the black market. At the same time, Western intelligence services have an almost unlimited budget, so such data will be relevant.
"Izvestia" sent an inquiry to the FCS as to whether the agency considers the proposed tightening sufficient.
