Russia proposes 10 Year in Prison Sentence for Hackers and Malware Authors

The Russian government has introduced a draft bill that proposes prison sentences as punishment for hackers and cyber criminals creating malicious software used in targeting critical Russian infrastructure, even if they have no part in actual cyber attacks.

The bill, published on the Russian government’s website on Wednesday, proposes amendments to the Russian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code with a new article titled, "Illegal influence upon the critical informational infrastructure of the Russian Federation."

The article introduces punishment for many malicious acts, including the "creation and distribution of programs or information, which can be used for the destruction, blocking or copying data from the Russian systems."

However, if the cyber attacks lead to serious consequences or create a threat of such outcome, the bill orders the prison term of up to ten years for those involved in it.

Moreover, hackers obtaining unauthorized access to protected data have to pay a penalty of up to 2 Million rubles (approx. $31,500) and can face up to five years of forced labor and six years in prison.

The proposed bill was drafted in a short period of time after Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed an updated doctrine on Russia's Information Security.

However, if the cyber attacks lead to serious consequences or create a threat of such outcome, the bill orders the prison term of up to ten years for those involved in it.

Moreover, hackers obtaining unauthorized access to protected data have to pay a penalty of up to 2 Million rubles (approx. $31,500) and can face up to five years of forced labor and six years in prison.

The proposed bill was drafted in a short period of time after Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed an updated doctrine on Russia's Information Security.