MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2021) Obligating companies to pay Russian citizens for personal data leaks will force businesses to focus more on digital security, Herman Gref, the CEO of Russia's largest lender, Sberbank, said on Friday.
"Imposing higher compensations for the loss of citizens' data, I believe, will greatly spur the market. Cybersecurity is a serious business, requiring serious money and many years of work to learn how to create a defense system so effective that hackers, who have also been learning for decades how to penetrate and use the latest artificial intelligence systems, cannot get through," Gref said at the Higher school of Economics-Sberbank discussion club.
According to the CEO, there is a big difference between simple credentials and more personal, sensitive data. Owners of such information should clearly understand its price, he stressed.
"This way, those who own and use this data will understand how much they will pay in case of a leak, and citizens will receive the compensation that will be enough to satisfy them morally and financially. I am for such a system. This, of course, will greatly motivate everyone to treat this whole issue differently," Gref noted.
Cybersecurity has become a pressing issue for the global community as the costs of virtual crimes are expected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015, according to industry experts.
The Russian Investigative Committee has said that the number of cybercrimes in Russia increased 20 times over the past decade and continues to grow.
