Hacking as cheating

The legislation of both Russia and other countries negatively relates to the creation and use of malware, the creation of exploits and hacking of local networks and individual computers. Usually when it comes to liability for such acts, in the case of Russia these are Articles 272 and 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. But besides these articles, the creators of malware and those who use it may face other articles - which is usually forgotten during the discussion of security incidents and on specialized discussions of responsibility for writing malware. Let's say art. 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “High treason” - can a virus write it?

A small quote on the case, which is now widely known - the case of Humpty Dumpty:

If an attacker copied information with limited access, such as state or bank secrecy, then his actions would qualify not only under Art. 272 - in these cases, the offender is charged with art. 275 of the Criminal Code (“Treason”) or Art. 183 of the Criminal Code ("Illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting commercial, tax or bank secrecy").

Let's start with article 275 of the Criminal Code :

Treason, that is, committed by a citizen of the Russian Federation ... rendering financial, material, technical, consulting or other assistance to a foreign state, international or foreign organization or their representatives in activities against the security of the Russian Federation - shall be punished with imprisonment from twelve to twenty years with a fine of up to five hundred thousand rubles, or in the amount of the salary or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years or without with restriction of liberty for up to two years.

In what cases can this article be incriminated?
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The object of high treason is the external security of the Russian Federation as a state. The state security should be understood as the state of protection of the vital interests of the state - the constitutional system, sovereignty and territorial integrity from internal and external threats.

Territorial immunity depends on defense, that is, the state of economic, military, social and moral potential, able to protect the state from outside attack.

Other assistance to a foreign state, a foreign organization or their representatives in the process of conducting hostile activity against the Russian Federation is such actions that are not covered by either espionage or the issuance of state secrets. Specifically, this can be expressed, for example, in the provision of asylum to agents of foreign intelligence, supplying them with false documents, food, vehicles, etc. This type of high treason is considered to have been completed since the actual assistance of a citizen of the Russian Federation to a foreign state, representatives in such activities.

The last paragraph clearly shows that the sale of malicious software, assistance in its distribution to representatives of foreign organizations in the event of their subsequent use for purposes that will lead to a change in the economic or socio-moral potential of their state is not good

Who can fall under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation?

The subject (performer) of high treason can only be a citizen of the Russian Federation who has reached the age of 16.

The most unpleasant thing in this article is the absence of the word "knowingly" or its analogues. This word is present in article 273 and indicates that the punishment for an action will apply if the action was not accidental. Will there be liability under Article 275 in the case of actions when the accused did not know about whom he provides assistance or did not know about against whom, say, the software developed by him?

On the subjective side, treason can only be committed intentionally. In this case, all forms of such treason can be committed only with direct intent. The guilty person realizes that he commits one of the acts provided for by art. 265 of the Criminal Code, and wants to commit this act. The motives of this crime may be different and do not affect the qualification of the offense.

That is, if you sold the software and realized that it can be used against ... Which by the way strains human rights defenders

Is it possible to avoid liability under Art. 275 of the Criminal Code? Quote notes on the article:

A person who has committed crimes under this article, as well as articles 276 and 278 of this Code, shall be exempted from criminal liability if it voluntarily and timely communicated to the authorities or otherwise helped prevent further damage to the interests of the Russian Federation and if its actions do not contain a different composition. of crime.

What other articles can be used in the case of computer crimes other than the standard 272/273/274 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (and their analogues in other countries)?

• Extortion (Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The use of cryptographers clearly falls under this article.
  

  Extortion, that is, the requirement to transfer someone else's property or the right to property or perform other actions of a property nature under the threat of violence or the destruction or damage of someone else's property, as well as under the threat of spreading information, disgracing the victim or his relatives, or other information that may cause significant harm to the rights or legitimate interests of the victim or his relatives, is punished by restriction of freedom for up to four years, or by forced labor for up to four years with restriction of liberty for up to two years or without it, or arrest for up to six months, or imprisonment for up to four years with a fine of up to eighty thousand rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for the period up to six months or no
  
  2. Extortion committed:
  a) a group of persons by prior agreement;
  d) on a large scale - shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to seven years with a fine of up to five hundred thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years or without restraint of liberty for up to two years or without it.
  
  3. Extortion committed:
  a) an organized group;
  b) in order to obtain property on a large scale;
  c) with the infliction of grievous bodily harm to the victim, -
  is punished by imprisonment for a term of seven to fifteen years with a fine of up to one million rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to five years or without such restriction of liberty for a term of up to two years or without it.
  

• Fraud in the field of computer information (Art. 159.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - “theft of someone else’s property or the acquisition of the right to someone else’s property by entering, deleting, blocking, modifying computer information or otherwise interfering with the operation of means of storing, processing or transmitting computer information or information and telecommunications networks
• Fraud (Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and the infliction of property damage by fraud or breach of trust (Art. 165 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)
• Violation of the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraphic or other communications (Art. 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - “the illegality of actions means their taking, gaining access to the content of correspondence, telephone conversations, etc. in conditions not specified by law ";
• Illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting commercial or banking secrets (Article 183 of the Criminal Code);
• Violation of copyright and related rights (article 146 of the Criminal Code);
• ...

As fiction, we can mention tax evasion from organizations (Article 199 of the Criminal Code). As it is known, Al Capone was arrested not for reket and murder, but for non-payment of taxes. Tax plans are raising constantly, so why not?

To summarize - if the attacker fell into the hands of justice - there are enough articles about which he will go through the stage.