MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Cybercrime rate in Russia has grown 20 times over the past 7 years and continues to grow, Head of the Unit on Cybercrime and Hi-Tech Crime Investigations at the Russian Investigative Committee Konstantin Komarda said in an interview with TASS.
"In general, since 2013, the level of crime in the field of information technology has increased more than 20 times and continues to grow. Today, every seventh crime in Russia is committed using information technology or in cyberspace," Komarda said.
According to him, cybercriminals’ actions are becoming more and more aggressive. They carefully hide their tracks and remain anonymous, which makes it extremely difficult to collect evidence. "Almost always, when committing cybercrimes, digital secrecy methods are used: data encryption, including specialized programs for masking IP addresses, exiting the network through public access points, using accounts and identifying data that belongs to other people who are not aware of such use, and so on," Komarda explained.
He noted that in order to counter this new type of threat, the traditional approach to investigation is not enough; it is necessary for law enforcement officials to understand the specifics of cybersphere, its cross-border nature, the ability to work in an information environment, communicate with representatives of IT companies and other specialists, know how and where look for evidence, how to record it.