LETTERS: WE took note of an interview with U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray for NST published on December 25, 2023 and would like to make some comments.
The US allegations that Russia is using computer attacks to steal intellectual property, citizens' personally identifiable information and sensitive government data to gain competitive or strategic advantage are absolutely groundless.
The "Russian hackers" is the usual headline of the US media when covering news on election frauds, data leakages, theft of technology or business plans, DDoS attacks, fishing, malware incidents.
This, however, is mostly an excuse to explain systemic hardware and software failures of the US government agencies and their private contractors on information security, as well as an attempt to "mask" their own ransomware incidents. No evidence of Russia's alleged malicious ICT activities has ever been provided.
Instead of engaging through existing bilateral hotlines US Cyber Command boasts practicing so called "hunt-forward cyberoperations" – against Russia and its people.
As for ICT-crime itself, the US and its allies are striving to put together an "exclusive" club, so they could continue playing the role of the "world gendarme" and bring unwanted countries under the "cybertribunal."
They see the Council of Europe Convention on Computer Crime of 2001 (Budapest Convention) as a constituent element of such mechanism. Its provisions grant Western intelligence services direct access to the information infrastructure of other member countries.
Russia has always consistently defended the creation of a transparent and equitable regime of international cooperation in the fight against ICT-crime.
We fought for the elaboration of a universal treaty within the UN. Finally in 2019, with the co-authorship of 46 and support of 87 member states, it was possible to adopt UN General Assembly resolution 74/247, which established an Open-Ended Ad Hoc Committee to elaborate such a convention.
Russia and like-minded member states, including Malaysia, advocate for the widest possible scope of application of the future treaty: the introduction of criminal liability for the most dangerous acts for an individual, society and the state, for the provision of all necessary powers to law enforcement agencies to identify, prevent, suppress, investigate and prosecute ICT crimes.
A critical element of the convention is a mechanism for urgent mutual assistance that would be consistent with the fast-paced nature of ICT crimes and the fragility of evidence in the digital environment. Finally, Russia and the majority of member states stand for the inviolability of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter - respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in the affairs of other states.
As ironic as it seems, the US authorities allege a purely defensive posture and bill themselves as a righteous mentor in the digital domain trying to "attract" more countries into its jurisdiction instead of wrapping up hollow propaganda and joining practical efforts to ensure greater information security in accordance with the international law and the principle of sovereign equality of states.
H.E. Naiyl M. Latypov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times