Representatives of the Russian banking community opposed the current version of the bill on the transition to domestic software, which was prepared by the Ministry of Digital Science under the supervision of the Federal Security Service (FSB). By February 24, they must submit their proposals for finalizing the project, Vedomosti writes.
The document applies to all objects of critical information infrastructure, which include financial organizations. For them, it is about replacing 90 percent of the software, and in an extremely short time.
The State Duma supported this conclusion. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the financial market committee, chairman of the board of the Association of Banks of Russia, noted that ordinary citizens would be the first to suffer. A rush in such an area will lead to massive disruptions, problems with payroll, payment for goods and services, which will undermine confidence in the banking system.
In turn, the director of the information security department of Tinkoff Bank Dmitry Gadar noted that the new conditions will significantly worsen security. They will make banking systems vulnerable to hacker attacks.
According to him, it is often necessary to update the software within 24 hours to protect against intruders. But under the new rules, this will have to ask permission from the FSB. Gadar stressed that the procedure for using foreign software can and should be of a notification nature so that banks can ensure security.
Aksakov proposed to first test Russian solutions at state institutions. The locomotive, in his opinion, may be the Central Bank. First, the regulator will check the developments on its payment system, the System for the Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) and the National Payment Card System (NSPK), and only then will it share the developments with banks.
The regulator itself agreed with this proposal. Thus, the deputy head of the information security department, Artem Sychev, emphasized that only an industry regulator can assess the possibility of using foreign software, because related ministries do not know the specifics of the industry. However, today, he noted, the concept assumes that two departments, including the FSB, determine what is right for everyone.
In November 2020, it became known that the transition of critical IT infrastructure to Russian software, which was supposed to start on January 1, was postponed for at least three years. The demand of the country’s President Vladimir Putin was faced with the fact that Russia does not have the solutions necessary for the market, and the development will take a long time, sometimes up to five years.
In February, the government proposed to speed up the process to allow the developer not to confirm significant revision of foreign programs. The new version of the document allows you to include copies of foreign free software or Russian developments with its key elements in the register of domestic software. Thus, the transition to Russian software may turn out to be largely formal.