Reforming Russian legislation for crimes in the digital economy

Abstract

The aim of this research work is to analyze Russian criminal legislation on punishment for computer crimes. The growth in the number and intensity of cyber-attacks throughout the world also leads to an increase of costs for companies and society as a whole to provide protection against cyber-attacks and to prevent losses from them. The financial sphere of the economy suffers especially. The article provides statistical and expert data on the potential damage from the suspension of the financial institution’s activities, including lost profits and costs for restoring websites after cyber-attacks. A significant increase in the number of crimes committed with the help of digital devices and a multiple increase in the amount of damage from them were revealed on the basis of an empirical study. On the part of the business community, the demand for the state to toughen penalties for computer crimes is increasing. To this end, in 2018 novels were introduced into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which toughened criminal liability for embezzlement of funds from bank accounts or electronic money. It is shown that the changes introduced by the legislator in the criminal legislation of Russia take into account modern threats to economic security and increase the level of protection of the financial interests of citizens, credit organizations and the state as a whole.