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Russia Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Sovereignty and anti-fraud efforts highlighted at Moscow cyber conference
Delegations from 40 countries gathered in Moscow last week for an annual cybersecurity conference to explore ways to reduce reliance on Big Tech and address the rise of AI-assisted fraud. This year's Positive Hack Days Festival, known as PHDays Fest, was the largest since the event began in 2011, according to the organizers. Over three days, about 150,000 people attended the Luzhniki venue in person, while more than 180,000 joined panels virtually. Initially launched by Russian cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies, the event has grown into a global forum attracting government officials and industry leaders. Among the 2025 forum's international speakers were Mexican Ambassador to Russia Eduardo Megias and Ahmed Mustafa Al-Issawi, an aide to the owner of Qatar-based Al Adid Business Foundation. Digital sovereignty was a central theme of the conference. Organizers highlighted Russia's response to being cut off from Western tech services after the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. Yury Maksimov, the billionaire founder and former CEO of Positive Technologies, advocated for a shift away from what he called the 'authoritarianism' of major software developers. Smaller firms, he said, struggle to compete in the current environment, but could flourish under a knowledge-sharing model. By teaching clients to manage their own cybersecurity, companies can foster global expertise and network-based advantages, he argued. Cybercrime was also a key focus. Danil Filippov, a senior official with Russia's Interior Ministry, said that roughly half of all crimes the take place in the country, ranging from financial fraud to terrorist incitement, are initiated abroad. Criminals are rapidly adopting advanced tools, said Elman Mekhtiev, a consumer protection consultant to the Bank of Russia. He warned that advancements in real-time translation software powered by artificial intelligence will soon erase language barriers for cybercriminals. The event featured a cyberwarfare championship, where more than 40 hacker teams competed in simulated attacks on critical infrastructure. Attendees also had the chance to experience 'Fraud Roulette,' which connects suspected phone scammers with volunteers willing to waste their time. The project, developed by T-bank, recorded 617 phone calls lasting more than 10 hours in total during the live demonstration at the fest. Those efforts alone cost fraudsters an estimated $1,600 in lost revenue, organizers said.
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India and Russia can explore practical cooperation in cybersecurity
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel India's digital transformation is moving in a direction very similar to what is visible in Russia – with rapid growth in fintech, digital government services, e-commerce, and smart city infrastructure. That kind of progress demands strong cybersecurity. India is not just as a partner, but as a key player in shaping the future of global cybersecurity and digital architecture, Yury Maksimov , Co-founder of Cyberus , international cybersecurity development foundation told ET's Dipanjan Roy ChaudhuryIndia's digital transformation is moving in a direction very similar to what we see in Russia – with rapid growth in fintech, digital government services, e-commerce, and smart city infrastructure. That kind of progress demands strong the last three years, we've learned the hard way how to protect critical systems, measure and strengthen resilience, and quickly train the specialists needed to meet growing demand. It's hard-earned knowledge – and we're ready to share it with your experts to help make India's digital transformation more secure and is also developing a system to objectively measure cybersecurity – across companies, entire regions, and national infrastructure. We'd be glad to see Indian companies and experts join us in co-creating and implementing this Cyberus, we've united dozens of IT and cybersecurity companies – working not only to protect our own country, but also to join forces with partners in building a secure digital already collaborating with 40 countries, and we're especially eager to deepen our cooperation with India. We see India not just as a partner, but as a key player in shaping the future of global cybersecurity and digital long-standing friendship is proof that we can achieve great things together – not just in industrialisation, but in the digital world as today is significantly lagging behind the pace of digitalisation. It's particulalrly evident in countries like India, where rapid digital transformation of governance, commerce, and society has made it both a global leader and a target for this lag is only part of the problem. The bigger issue is how we're going about digitalisation itself. The way our digital world is built today simply can not guarantee digital architecture – where IT-companies have full control and the power to change users' systems anytime – can't be secure by design. In fact, that's often how hackers break in: by taking advantage of these central points of we're really facing two big challenges: first, trying to improve cybersecurity within the limits of today's system. And second, planning for a better digital architecture, one that puts user security and sovereignty at the center, from the only real way to solve both challenges is through global cooperation. The digital world has no borders. And that means securing it is not something any country can do tackle the first challenge, we need to move away from checkbox mentality in cybersecurity, where decisions are made just to meet formal requirements. Instead, we need to learn how to measure the security of a country's critical information most organisations only discover their vulnerabilities after they've been hacked. But there's a better way: continuous testing by skilled cybersecurity teams – simulating real attacks, exposing weak points, and closing them before attackers get has made real progress in assessing our security before incidents happen: using white-hat ethical hackers, big data analytics, and AI to predict vulnerabilities and estimate potential damage. This approach moves us from compliance to true risk management and strengthens how we build security. And we're ready to share this experience with our colleagues in might sound like a contradiction, but it's not: true digital sovereignty requires old model of sovereignty meant building everything yourself behind digital walls. But that approach doesn't scale – it's expensive, slow, and often replaces one dependency with vision is different. It's about creating a modular, decentralised, and trusted digital architecture, where any component can be replaced, but the system as a whole keeps running. It's not about copying existing ecosystems, it's about co-creating something new through global cooperation, grounded in fair, shared rules that define how we live, work, and connect in the digital standards remove the need for every country to build a full tech stack from scratch. Instead, components from different countries – Russia, India, South Africa , others – can be combined into a secure, functioning system. If one part becomes unavailable for any reason, it can be easily make this work, we need a coalition of countries willing to co-create this architecture – based on trust, transparency, and fairness. Not domination. This isn't just a technical challenge – it's a political and ethical also requires a mindset shift: moving beyond short-term wins, and thinking long-term about a future that benefits everyone. If we get it right, we'll lay the foundation for a truly secure, multipolar digital world.
