Politicians uneasy over potential impact on national security, local reports say

Russia, home to some of the world's most lucrative and damaging cybercrime operations, has rejected a bill to legalize ethical hacking.

The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's general assembly, blocked the bill's passage into law on various grounds, including concerns over how state secrets held on government and critical infrastructure systems could be made less secure as a result.

Politicians said that if vulnerabilities were found in software made by companies headquartered in hostile countries, those security holes would invariably have to be shared with them, which in turn could lead to hostile nations abusing those weak spots for strategic gain.

Other objections focused on how the bill failed to comprehensively explain the ways in which existing laws would have to be adjusted to allow provisions for ethical or "white-hat" hacking/cybersecurity research.

Discussions around making legal provisions for services such as penetration testing and ...