MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/: The information systems for struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic were created within tight deadlines, hence it was just impossible to meet all the safety requirements, but the experience gained in the process will be taken into account in further work, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Oleg Khramov, told the weekly Argumenty I Fakty on Tuesday.
"The information systems for the struggle against the coronavirus were created and introduced within the tightest deadlines. Meeting all security requirements was impossible," Khramov said. In the process of their operation certain vulnerabilities in the protection of data processing were exposed.
"At the same time the COVID-19 situation provided clear evidence there was great demand in the economy and society for fast-tracked informatization. The experience gained by now will certainly be used in the further work to ensure information security," Khramov said. In his opinion in the context of global informatization it would be possible to guarantee sustainable economic growth and national security only on the condition of developing the national IT industry.
He is certain that for all participants in the processes of digitization and provision of information services security should be the top priority. Khramov stressed that this concerned software developers and manufacturers of IT and communication equipment, communication operators, owners of data processing centers and many other agencies.
"Information security issues must begin to be addressed at the stage of drafting systems and products. A great number of innovation technologies is being created and introduced - artificial intelligence, quantum computing, the internet of things, the industrial internet, cryptocurrencies and others. But their emergence and application bring about new information threats and challenges," he warned. Khramov is certain that many of these threats require fundamental scrutiny by scientists. Thorough research is needed into the protection of instruction processes in artificial intelligence technologies and the problem of enhancing the resistibility of cryptographic algorithms in introducing high-performance quantum computers. Effective solutions to these and other problems must begin to be looked for already now.
"It goes without saying that authorized government bodies are to play the leading role in this process to control the activity of commercial, research and other organizations concerned. I am certain that only in this case it will be possible to achieve the proper level of protection from soaring and diversified information threats," Khramov said.
