On June 16, IT IS conf, the annual conference in information security and information technologies ended in Yekaterinburg. More than 350 people participated in the event this year: experts in information technologies (IT) and information security (IS) from all over the country, heads of relevant ministries and business divisions.
The capital of the Urals became a hot spot for leading specialists and experts in information technology industry for a day. In addition to traditional lectures, the conference program included reports and round tables. Special attention was paid to staff cyber exercise, where participants were able to test their knowledge in practice.
The plenary session "New Information Challenges in the Current Reality" became the platform where information security experts discussed how IT and information security architecture is changing in Russia in new political and economic reality, what changes have occurred in cyber attacks and whether measures of state support will be able to provide real help for functioning of IT industry.
Valentin Bogdanov, General Director of USSC, pointed out that according to research conducted by Kaspersky Lab, the intensity of cyber attacks has increased by 20 times in recent months. "Many managers in various structures and enterprises note that employees of information security departments have actually switched to a round–the-clock mode of operation, a kind of combat alert mission, when the intensity of cyber attacks becomes permanent," Valentin Bogdanov stated.
Vladimir Dashchenko, an expert in cybersecurity of industrial control systems at Kaspersky Lab, noted that the market is experiencing transition of cyber threats focus, including an increase in insider attacks, at the same time new niches have opened up that Russian vendors can safely qualify for.
Alexey Lukatsky, moderator of IT IS conf information security section, an information security expert, the author of the blog "Business without danger", noted that the Urals is one of the regions most susceptible to cyber attacks. "There is a high concentration of enterprises operating in the industrial sector. In the current situation, information about the volume of production, quantity and places of supplies is the most sought-after. And it is obvious that the number of attacks on such enterprises will increase to capture and steal information so that the enemy will build his warfare strategy on its basis," he said.
Particular emphasis at IT IS conf conference was given to IT section dedicated to import substitution and development of IT infrastructure under sanctions. The participants of the discussions agreed that issues associated with lack of hardware and the need to retrain staff when switching from one solution to another are still burning ones. However, experts agree that import substitution is necessary and in near future we will see active implementation of domestic solutions in the work of various companies.
IT IS conf 2022 conference was organized by Ural Security System Center (USSC) with the support of the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications of Sverdlovsk Region. The conference partners include leading Russian IT companies such as: Positive Technologies, Check Point, IVA Technologies, Red Soft, Infotex, Gazinformservice, CyberLympha, IT Bastion and others.