INTERVIEW: Digitalization brings risk of shadow power emergence

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (PRIME) -- Digitalization could bring to life a new shadow power in Russia, the power of the people creating and using digital systems, group of companies InfoWatch CEO Natalya Kasperskaya told PRIME in an interview published on Wednesday.

“Some officials are forcing us straight toward digitalization. But they do not see entirely that apart from other risks, there is the following one, structural: the country will get a new shadow power, in particular, the power of the people creating and using digital systems – IT specialists, digital clerks, their seniors,” Kasperskaya said.

The expert also advised Russians against submitting biometrics. “They will be almost certainly stolen, sold, leaked. Let’s be explained first how these data will be protected, including against own staff. Personally, I don’t understand why biometry should be used,” she said.

The main peril in the introduction of biometry is that there are still no skills to keep it safe and verify it.

“The system of biometric identification is an artificial intelligence system, which does not have the 100% quality. It can always make type I and type II errors: it can recognize ‘an incorrect’ object as a correct one or do not pass the correct object,” Kasperskaya said.

“The quality of facial recognition now reaches the maximum of 99% – developers usually boast about 97–98% without explaining what kind of errors are hidden in the remaining 1–3%,” she said, adding that in terms of Moscow where about 16–18 million people reside or visit daily, about 180,000 people will be identified incorrectly.

Kasperskaya also recommended keeping paper versions of documents in case of electronic failures.

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