Bill on white hackers raises questions from law enforcers

The adoption of the bill on white hackers may be delayed, Vedomosti found out. The initiative has been publicly discussed since the summer of 2022. At that time, the Ministry of Digital Development began to study the possibility of introducing the concept of bug bounty (searching for vulnerabilities in software for a fee) into the legal field. The bill refers, in particular, to changes in Art. 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal access to computer information,” says Vedomosti’s interlocutor in one of the cybersecurity companies, who is familiar with the document.

This article implies illegally gaining access to legally protected computer information if these actions entailed, in particular, the modification and copying of this information. The maximum liability under this article is seven years in prison.