On Oct. 19, Yevgeny Nikulin, a suspected Russia hacker, was arrested in Prague by local police working with the FBI. The American side is currently seeking his extradition to the United States. “The Russian Foreign Ministry and embassy in Prague are actively working with the authorities in order to prevent the extradition of a Russian citizen …
USM Holdings, a company controlled by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, is about to invest 500 million rubles (approximately $8 million at the current exchange rate) in tax data operator OFD.RU. The news was reported earlier this month by business daily Kommersant, based on exchanges with representatives of both companies. The funding will be spent on …
Alisher Usmanov invests $8 million in tax data operator OFD.RU Read More
Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, has initiated a legal procedure to block access to LinkedIn from Russia, should the US site not comply with the new legislation on personal data storage. This legislation, which came into force in September 2015, requires to store Russian citizens’ personal data only in databases located on Russia territory (see white paper by EWDN and EY). Many …
Russia urges LinkedIn to comply with personal data legislation Read More
Earlier this month Alexei Moiseev, the Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation, stated that the spread of bitcoin in Russia does not represent a threat the country’s financial ecosystem, at its current rate of adoption. As such, the plan to ban the cryptocurrency is now paused. Moiseev had primarily spearheaded the Russian Finance Ministry’s …
The Russian bitcoin ban plan is on indefinite hold Read More
Russian companies have begun searching for ways to fully decipher intercepted messages on popular platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, the Kommersant newspaper reported Tuesday. Decryption of messages is a key provision of the recently-passed anti-terror law authored by conservative lawmaker, Irina Yarovaya. As part of the wide-ranging law, all companies providing online communication are …
Russia begins search for decryption of online messengers Read More
Russian industry lobbies and lawmakers are preparing changes to the legislation on online video content. According to an advanced draft bill analyzed by Kommersant, the owners of independent online streaming companies with over 100,000 daily views will be required to reduce the share of foreign capital to 20% or less by March 1, 2017. A …
Russia considers restrictions to foreign capital ownership of online video companies Read More
Emma Moore could have been the health and weight loss guru you spent your life looking for. You might be forgiven for not knowing her work — after all, she has a common name, one that she shares with other similarly successful authors on Amazon. Until this week, she had dozens of health, dieting, cooking, and …
The Kremlin has already begun work on plans to monitor and decrypt Russia’s online traffic in real-time, Kommersant has reported. According to the Russian business daily, Natalya Kaspersky, CEO of cyber-security firm InfoWatch and a member of the Kremlin’s IT and Sovereignty working group, confirmed that talks on the project were already under way. Kaspersky later denied the claims, saying that the newspaper had “twisted her words.” The …
Kremlin starts talks to decrypt all Internet traffic in real-time Read More
State censors in Russia cut off access yesterday to the world’s biggest pornography website, Pornhub. The website appeared on the list of websites banned by the government agency Roskomnadzor on Tuesday, Sept. 13. A Russian court will rule whether the ban will remain in place at a later date. A Russian Internet without the Web’s …
Russian telecom regulator blocks access to Pornhub Read More
Last week, the Industry and Trade Ministry suggested to entrust the National Informatics Center (NIC), a subsidiary of the state-owned corporation Rostec, with implementing the requirements of the new “anti-terrorist” legislation related to the storage of phone and Internet communications. Dubbed “Big Brother law,” this legislation was adopted by the Russian parliament and signed by …
Rostec suggests to use pension fund to finance implementation of ‘Big Brother law’ Read More
Russia’s new “anti-terrorist” legislation adopted last month could cost mobile operators up to 10 trillion rubles (approximately $154 billion at the current exchange rate), RBC reported today. The online business publication cited an estimate from Denis Neshtun, General Manager of data storage company RCNTEC. The cost to mobile networks could be significantly reduced if the law’s requirements were softened and/or if the price of the required …
Russian authorities have gone back on their idea to penalize whoever is caught in bitcoin operations in the country, says a report by Russian news agency Interfax. Though Interfax referenced unnamed sources close to the Russian government’s financial departments, it suggested that representatives from the country’s Ministry of Finance, central bank, and other government bureaus are …
