MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has exposed during 2001 seven "initiators" of attempts to establish criminal contacts with representatives of special services in a number of foreign countries.
At a meeting with the editors-in-chief of leading Russian media, FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev named among these countries Turkey, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China, Israel, and Kuwait.
"The initiators of passing secret information onto foreign special services are basically citizens in financial and social straits," said the FSB director.
Among the channels through which foreign special agencies seek classified data, Patrushev called Russian telecommunications' systems and global information networks, above all the Internet.
According to him, "the enemy has broadened opportunities to penetrate electronic bases and banks of military, economic, ecological, and other data."
As regards software offences, the FSB director noted that the spread of "computer bugs" has become "a specially acute" problem, threatening state and regional information resources.
"Criminal structures spare no effort in using open telecommunications and departmental computers for gross financial impropriety and fraud," said Patrushev.
In 2001, FSB has initiated over 40 criminal cases on software crimes.