Moscow Court fines agency overseen by Russia’s censorship authority for employee data leak

Moscow’s Simonovsky District Court fined the Main Radio Frequency Center (MRFC), an agency overseen by Russia’s federal censorship authority Roskomnadzor, for an employee data leak, Interfax reports. The agency was fined 30,000 rubles (about $383).

The MRFC was found guilty of violating the law on personal data, since the agency “did not ensure the confidentiality of [employee] data and did not prevent unauthorized third-party access to the database.” The news outlet Current Time clarifies that MRFC’s internal network was hacked, resulting in more than two terabytes of leaked documents and messages exchanged between employees.

As a result of the leak, journalists discovered that the MRFC plays a key role in the state’s surveillance of Internet usage in Russia. The agency helps block independent media, recommends potential “foreign agents,” censors searches on Yandex about the war, and monitors reports about Vladimir Putin’s health, protests, and “fakes” about the army.