Internet users are waiting for the state to protect from DDOS attacks
Journalists and the online community are concerned about the recent situation around a number of online resources. Not so long ago, the Internet resources of major mass media, including Ekho Moskvy radio station, Kommersant publishing house and LiveJournal, were subjected to massive DDOS attacks. Law enforcement agencies have not yet responded to these attacks, representatives of online media admit.The problems of online journalism and the possibilities of legislative regulation on the Internet were discussed during the round table by journalists, experts and bloggers. In particular, representatives of online publications complained that law enforcement agencies did not show interest in finding perpetrators of DDOS attacks.
Andrei Khodorchenkov, the chief editor of the Ekho Moskvy website, said that after the hacker attacks that took place in early December, the editors filed an application to the Investigation Committee and the K administration of the RF Ministry of the Interior. However, there is still no answer. Rustem Adagamov (drugoi), a popular blogger, said that LiveJournal also found itself in a similar situation. LJ during the year attacked several times, but law enforcement agencies also did not respond to the submitted applications.
Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, said that for two years now the publication had been waiting for a response regarding the investigation of hacker attacks on the newspaper’s website. During the round table, Muratov demonstrated a letter to the media representatives, at which a resolution was left by the President of Russia instructing the Investigation Committee to deal with the hacker attacks on the site. “Two years have passed since then, as a courier delivered to me. Two years no answer,” he stated.
Ekaterina Dmitrieva, a representative of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia for the work with the Mass Media, in response to this, stated that the department was very interested in investigating these facts. “We are not moving away from this topic,” she said. The representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office explained that according to the legislation, 30 days are allocated for consideration of appeals. In this connection, the applicants will receive a response on the appeals on the attacks that took place in December only after the New Year holidays. Speaking about the situation regarding earlier attacks, Dmitriyeva promised to inform the management of the department about it.
At the same time, experts believe that the right to free access to information on the Internet should be equal to fundamental freedoms and human rights. This opinion was expressed many times by Mikhail Fedotov, secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists. He was supported by the expert Boris Panteleev, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia.
“Along with the right to life, to be free from torture, a person who is on the territory of our state has the right to free access to the Internet. This is a very serious thing,” explained Panteleev. This means that this right is a supranational value that cannot be limited to anyone. According to the expert, this voiced idea should be embodied by the efforts of public organizations.
During the round table, it was decided to send recommendations to the FSB, the administration of "K" and the Prosecutor General's Office, which state the inadmissibility of any restriction of access to information on the web for Russian citizens. And DDOS-attacks should be regarded precisely as this limitation. In the future, DDOS attacks, according to experts, will only gain popularity - because their organization will be much cheaper.
Evgeny Kharybin, an expert, noted: “Now the DDOS attack costs 3000 dollars, and in a couple of years it will cost 500-600 dollars. The software now offered for such abuses becomes cheaper just before our eyes.”
IT specialists have also noted the popularity of DDOS attacks. Representatives of Kaspersky Lab, the largest company in the field of information security, call them the "Runet plague." And they are quite actively using them now - this method is popular both with respect to online media and among competing online stores. And state services and departments are much worse protected from these attacks than commercial structures and experts state.
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