From March 27 to 28, the 22nd annual conference, Ensuring Trust and Security in the Use of ICT, is underway in Moscow organized by the Russian Association of Networks and Services (RANS). Attendees meet with industry leaders and heads of organizations engaged in enhancing trust and security in ICT usage, discuss strategies to enhance regulatory frameworks, and gain insights into ongoing and upcoming projects in this domain.
As the general partner of the event, the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ hosted a roundtable titled Ensuring Trust and Security in the Development and Use of Internet Infrastructure: National Interests and International Interaction.
Vladimir Gorzhaltsan, adviser to the Coordination Center director, moderated the event. Among the participants were Natalia Babekina (Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media), Boris Vasilyev and Artur Lyukmanov (Russian Foreign Ministry), Vadim Glushchenko (Center for Global IT Cooperation), Viktor Krasnov (RANS), Yevgeny Morozov (MSK-IX), Yevgeny Pankov, Olga Baskakova, and Andrey Aleinikov (Coordination Center for TLD RU./.РФ).
Olga Baskakova, project manager at the Coordination Center, presented the information and analytical project Netoscope, designed to aggregate data on malicious resources within Russian domain zones. She highlighted that Netoscope, initiated in 2012, stands as one of the earliest resources of its kind globally, predating renowned projects like ICANN DAAR by six years, as it was launched in 2018. Currently, the Netoscope project database encompasses over 5 million domain names across .RU, .РФ, and .SU domains. In 2023 alone, nearly 63,000 domain names were integrated into the project database, with phishing sites accounting for the majority, exceeding 51,000.
Coordination Center project manager Evgeny Pankov demonstrated the capabilities of combating the illicit use of domains through the Domain Patrol project, showcasing its 2023 results. Last year witnessed a significant surge in requests from competent organizations to registrars, reaching nearly 55,000. Similarly, akin to the Netoscope project, the majority (88.4%) of these requests concerned phishing. Thus phishing persists as a prominent issue for both users and cybersecurity experts. Following the assessment of requests by registrars and hosting providers, 54,082 malicious domains were successfully blocked in 2023, achieving an unprecedented average response time of 21.5 hours.
Evgeny Pankov also noted the significance of new legislative proposals, particularly in defining the concept of phishing and implementing user authentication through the Unified Identification and Authentication System. “The Coordination Center is fully prepared to contribute to any projects aimed at protecting Internet users,” he said.
Chairman of the Coordination Center’s Youth Council Andrey Aleinikov reminded attendees about the 30th anniversary of the .RU domain and elaborated on the initiatives and projects planned by the center for this milestone year. He extended an invitation to all conference participants to attend the 14th Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2024), scheduled for April 9-10, 2024, in a hybrid format: both in the Soglasie Hall and online via the rigf.ru website.
