The wall will be borrowed from the Chinese – Newspaper Kommersant No. 59 (7504) dated 04/06/2023

Due to the departure of the largest Western providers of cybersecurity solutions among Russian companies, the demand for Chinese solutions has grown, integrators say. The most active interest is in firewalls. Russian players are not afraid of competition, since the lack of FSTEC certificates does not allow the Chinese to work with the public sector and critical information infrastructure (CII) entities. But experts are sure that it is a matter of time.

According to the K2Tech integrator, who surveyed 120 companies in key sectors of the economy in March, if until 2022 only 5% of respondents used Chinese information security solutions, now 60% plan to replace the products of departed Western vendors (Cisco, Palo Alto, etc.) .). According to K2Tech, Russian companies are most interested in firewalls; 70% of respondents are looking for them in China. Intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are next in popularity: 47% of respondents want to replace them in the near future. 16% of survey participants plan to switch to new monitoring systems and security scanners.

The growth of interest in Chinese firewalls is confirmed in Lanit. Some Asian manufacturers have functionality familiar to customers, while domestic vendors “either finalize their solutions or have no analogues at all,” says Nikolai Fokin, director of the Lanit-Integration information security center. Chinese information security tools are gaining popularity in the Russian Federation, agrees Anton Yakimov, deputy general director of T1 Group for technological development. According to him, Sangfor and Eltex are “already known” on the market.

Russian companies have started developing their firewalls recently. Last year, RTK-Solar, Garda Technologies and Security Code sent applications for the implementation of six projects in this area (see “Kommersant” dated November 25, 2022).

Domestic providers of information security solutions are not afraid of competition from Chinese companies. They are “traditionally strong in hardware, but in software, the prospects are weaker due to the lack of the necessary certificates and communication barriers with customers,” explains Rustem Khairetdinov, deputy general director of Garda Technology. “In order to fully penetrate the Russian market, Chinese vendors need to be certified by regulators, resolve issues with the localization of products and overcome a number of other technical and organizational difficulties,” confirms Alexander Barinov, Director of RTK-Solar Network Solutions Portfolio. In the Russian Federation, the use of foreign security tools in information systems of a certain level is prohibited, so it is unlikely that Chinese solutions will occupy a large market share, adds Fedor Dbar, commercial director of Security Code.

FSTEC is responsible for certification of cybersecurity solutions. Without the approval of the product in the department, it cannot be used by government agencies, state companies and CII subjects, says Igor Reztsov, senior engineer for network security at K2Tech. The FSTEC did not specify whether the service received applications for certification of products from China. But it is not forbidden to certify products from a friendly country, Alexey Lukatsky, Positive Technologies business consultant, emphasizes: “The requirements will be the same as for Russian products – design documentation in Russian and source codes. If Chinese solutions pass the examination, they can be certified.”

The current strengthening of relations between the countries should have a positive impact on the penetration of Chinese technologies into the Russian IT sector, says Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center: “Fewer organizations in the Russian Federation can count on the hassle-free purchase of Western cybersecurity solutions due to expanding sanctions. Fewer companies, especially state-owned and state-affiliated ones, trust Western IT solutions. And finally, over the past five years, the PRC authorities have done a lot to develop information security. Now China can deliver ever better solutions.”

Tatyana Isakova, Timofey Kornev