The state forced Rostelecom to share its stake in the Central Bank of the Russian Federation

[tanjimajuha20]

nce October 2023, citizens' biometrics must be stored in the Unified Biometric System (UBS). All companies that have ever collected biometric data are required to transfer them to the UBS. In order to work with the UBS and continue to provide services to clients, commercial organizations must obtain state accreditation. The Unified Biometric System is certified according to regulators' requirements as a state information system (GIS).

The press service of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Digital Development, Communications france whatsapp resource and Mass Media) reminded: "The operator of the GIS EBS is JSC "Center for Biometric Technologies" (CBT). One of the shareholders of CBT is the Russian Federation. Thus, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media participates in the management and adoption of strategic decisions."

Read also

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to leave Rostelecom with only 46% of its former wholly owned subsidiary, the Center for Biometric Technologies (CBT). By a special decree, the head of state ordered that 26% of the CBT authorized capital be transferred to the Federal Agency for State Property Management, and recommended that the Central Bank take the remaining 25%. At the same time, CBT was reorganized from an LLC into a joint-stock company.

The Ministry of Digital Development reported that planned and control activities are carried out at least once every three years, the frequency and types of inspections depend on the risk categories, and the department's specialists inspect objects of control with increased security requirements once every two years. "We conduct an inspection visit, or documentary and on-site inspections. With an average risk, such activities are carried out once every 2.5 years. We would like to remind you that companies are required to notify citizens who submitted biometrics about the transfer of data to the Unified Biometric System 30 days before the start of the process. Citizens can refuse to transfer data to the Unified Biometric System and deactivate biometrics," added the representative of the press service of the Ministry of Digital Development.

The press service of JSC "CBT" told a ComNews correspondent that the Center for Biometric Technologies is in constant dialogue with banks and other organizations that provide biometric services, and also helps companies switch to new rules for working with biometrics in accordance with the requirements of Federal Law No. 572. The company also consults on issues of ensuring information security (IS), testing biometric processors and on the required documentation. A representative of the Center for Biometric Technologies added: "Even if accreditation is received, the organization will not have access to the biometrics themselves. Only vectors will be used in the work - mathematical templates transformed from biometrics."

Irina Zinovkina, Director of Consulting at the developer of information security solutions InfoWatch, reported that it is difficult to assess the security of this system yet, however, security issues were among the main ones during the development of the Unified Biometric System, from which we can conclude that the maximum possible number of measures will be taken to protect it. "Any data can be subject to attack, including biometrics. The complexity of biometric data also lies in the fact that they are unique and cannot be reset," Irina Zinovkina commented.