    <p>
    The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) plans to create a unified map of financial access points based on <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/yandeks-karty/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Yandex.Maps</a>, a digital mapping service by Russian tech giant <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Yandex" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Yandex</a>, Vedomosti reports.
</p>
    <p>
    The map will facilitate monitoring of citizens and businesses that may be at risk of digital inequality, considering that Internet access is not yet available in all inhabited areas in Russia and many customers can't afford to use remote service in favor of physical access points.
</p>
    <p>
    According to CBR’s report on the development of the financial sector through 2024, it intends to use the information provided by financial institutions and integrate it into Yandax.Map, which the regulator considers “<i>one of the leading Russian mapping services</i>”.
</p>
    <p>
    In March, the CBR made an agreement with Yandex for procurement of a mapping service, but the procurement was canceled due to the fact that Yandex was the only participant in the competition. The project is expected to cost $848,000 (62 million rubles).<br>
</p>
    <p>
    After implementation, users will be able to see the location of ATMs and bank offices based on official information from the Central Bank. Among other categories of financial services, the map will include microfinance organizations, credit consumer cooperatives, pawnshops, insurance entities, and professional brokers. The map will also indicate post offices where users can conduct banking transactions, ATMs, cashless payment terminals, as well as cash-out points.
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/bank-rossii-zapustit-kartu-tochek-dostupa-k-finansovym-uslugam-na-baze-iandeks-kart/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

Vedomosti

Yandex and CBR to Launch a Mapping Service for Financial Access Points in Russia 

    <p>
    The joint venture for the development of the <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/klyuch-rostelekom/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Unified Biometric System (UBS)</a> operated by <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Rostelecom" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Rostelecom</a> may include several major banks in Russia. This issue was discussed on July 29 at a meeting with market actors held the Central Bank, Kommersant reports.
</p>
    <p>
    According to the newspaper, the decision to include large banks in the joint venture has been made, further details are to be worked out. Previously, <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Sberbank" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Sberbank</a>, VTB, <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=GPB_Digital" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Gazprombank (GPB)</a>, <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Alfa_bank" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Alfa-Bank</a>, Russian Agricultural Bank, PSB, <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Tinkoff_Bank" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tinkoff-Bank</a> and Pochta-Bank expressed its willingness to take part in the joint venture. However, the list is not final, according to experts.
</p>
    <p>
    It was originally intended to create a joint venture with only Rostelecom and Sberbank in it, newspaper’s sources said. As for now, Sberbank has "<i>lost its monopoly</i>" under pressure from the Central Bank. “<i>The regulator is worried about market competitiveness, while Sberbank occupies half of the market. Considering such dominance, it is logical that the positions in the competitive environment are strongly skewed,</i>” one of the experts in the consulting market explained to Kommersant.
</p>
    <p>
    The joint venture is tasked with collecting about 20 million samples, including photographs and voice recordings, over the next two years. So far, UBS has collected data from 164 thousand Russian citizens for the past three years. By 2030, the number of Russians who have submitted their biometric data is expected to increase to 50 million, officials <a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4772708" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">reported</a> previously.
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-sovmestnoe-predpriiatie-po-razvitiiu-ebs-voidet-neskolko-bankov/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

Kommersant

Russia’s Major Banks to Join Unified Biometric System

    <p>
    The Bank of Russia published the revised Concept of the Digital Ruble which takes into account the outcomes of the public discussion of the previously presented report.
</p>
    <p>
    The target model for the introduction of a new form of currency provides that the Bank of Russia is the issuer of digital rubles and the platform operator. Financial organizations pen wallets for their clients on the central bank's platform and conduct operations.<br>
</p>
    <p>
    Stages of project implementation:
</p>
    <p>
    December 2021 - creation of a prototype of the digital ruble platform
</p>
    <p>
    January 2022 - development of amendments to the legislation of the Russian Federation
</p>
    <p>
    I quarter. 2022 - launch of testing a prototype of the digital ruble platform
</p>
    <p>
    2022 - testing of a prototype of the digital ruble platform
</p>
    <p>
    Based on the testing results, a roadmap for the implementation of the target digital ruble platform will be formed.<br>
</p>
    <p>
    The development of the platform is planned in two stages. The first involves the connection of credit institutions and the Federal Treasury, the implementation of C2C, C2B, B2C, B2B, G2B, B2G, C2G, G2C operations. As part of the second stage - the connection of financial intermediaries, the introduction of an offline regime, the exchange of the digital ruble for foreign currency and the possibility of opening wallets for non-resident clients.
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-opredelilsia-s-kontseptsiei-tsifrovogo-rublia/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

Bank of Russia

Russia's Central Bank has decided on the concept of the digital ruble

    <p>
    The Bank of Russia expects to present a prototype platform for the digital ruble by the end of 2021 and start testing a new form of currency in 2022,&nbsp;after finalising the solution. This was reported by the Prime agency with reference to the deputy chairman of the regulator Alexei Zabotkin.
</p>
    <p>
    According to him, the prototype will be a technological platform, "within which it will not be possible to make real transactions yet."
</p>
    <p>
    The Central Bank <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-izuchaet-vozmozhnost-vypuska-tsifrovogo-rublia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">presented</a> the concept of the digital ruble in October 2020. It is assumed that this will be an additional form of the national currency, which will be issued by the Central Bank in digital form and will combine the properties of cash and non-cash rubles.<br>
</p>
    <p>
    In early February, it <a href="https://iz.ru/1119685/natalia-ilina/pravlenyi-podkhod-tcifrovoi-rubl-trebuet-redaktcii-chetyrekh-zakonov-i-gk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">became known</a> that the preparation of amendments to the legislation for the introduction of the digital ruble is planned to begin in the second half of 2021.
</p>
    <p>
    After that, telecom operators <a href="https://iz.ru/1124100/natalia-ilina/koshelek-ili-sviaz-tcifrovye-rubli-predlozhili-khranit-na-smartfonakh" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">announced</a> their interest in introducing wallets for digital rubles on smart devices and in creating additional services for the third form of the national currency.
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://www.cbr.ru/StaticHtml/File/112957/Consultation_Paper_201013.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Digital Ruble report by Bank of Russia (in Russian)</a>
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-planiruet-zapustit-testirovanie-tsifrovogo-rublia-v-2022-godu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

PRIME

The Central Bank plans to start testing the digital ruble in 2022

    <p>
    The Central Bank of Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) in October recorded a sharp increase in the number of payment transactions using the Faster Payments System (FPS) -&nbsp; 214% increase compared to September.
</p>
    <p>
    In October people in Russia paid for purchases using QR codes
213 thousand times, the purchases amounted
to more than 765 million rubles (equivalent to $9.7 million). Since the launch of the
service, almost 390 thousand c2b transfers have been carried out for a total
amount of more than 1.67 billion rubles ($21.2 million), so 54% of the total number of payments and 45.8% of the
total amount of transactions were conducted in October.
</p>
    <p>
    According to the
publication, the popularity of QR codes as a payment method grew earlier, but the growth rates were not so high. In September, compared to August, the number of such
transactions in FPS increased by 61% (although
the volume increased by 105%), in August compared to July - by 62 and 69%,
respectively, in July compared to
June - by 57 and 42%, and in June compared to May - by 21 and 37%.
</p>
    <p>
    According to
experts, the growth is caused by the general trend of a gradual transition to
contactless payment methods, an increase in the number of connected trading
companies, and the active promotion of FPS and its capabilities.
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-zafiksiroval-rezkii-rost-chisla-pokupok-s-pomoshchiu-sistemy-bystrykh-platezhei/">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

The Central Bank recorded a sharp increase in the number of purchases using the Faster Payments System

    <p>
    The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (The Bank of Russia) is considering the possibility of issuing a digital ruble and is currently assessing the
prospects of its introduction. The digital ruble will be an additional form of the national currency and will be issued by the Central Bank in digital form; it will combine the characteristics of cash and non-cash rubles.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    “All three forms
of the Russian ruble will be absolutely equal: 1 ruble in cash is equivalent to 1 non-cash ruble, and 1 digital ruble will be equivalent to each of them”, - the regulator explained.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    The digital ruble
can be used to pay for goods and services, make payments to organizations and
the state, funds transfers, pay for
transactions with financial instruments and digital financial assets.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    QR codes or
biometric technologies can be used to make
payments using the digital ruble. Companies will be able to use the digital
ruble to
complement the existing cashless payments
system.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    The Central Bank points out that introduction of the digital ruble can contribute to the creation of a secure environment
for the functioning of smart contracts and settlements without the use of substitutes, and will also stimulate innovations. The Central Bank has not yet announced the time frames for issuing the digital ruble.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbr.ru/StaticHtml/File/112957/Consultation_Paper_201013.pdf">“Digital ruble” report&nbsp;(in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-izuchaet-vozmozhnost-vypuska-tsifrovogo-rublia/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a>
</p>

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is exploring the possibility of issuing a digital ruble

    <p>
    Specialists of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) are
developing an algorithm to detect manipulations in the financial markets. This
was stated in an interview with Bloomberg by the head of the research and
forecasting department of the regulator <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbr.ru/about_br/bankstructute/dip/morozovag/">Alexander Morozov</a>.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    It can take about an hour to determine the anomaly in manual mode, and the algorithm does it within 15 minutes. This allows you to identify possible manipulation or flash crashes, identify the growth of the problem and respond to it in time.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Alexander Morozov
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Head of Research and Forecasting Department of the Central Bank</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    The algorithm being developed
will signal an employee of the regulator about an anomaly in the financial
market and the need to take action; it has already been tested on the data of
the dollar / ruble exchange rate collected since 2018.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    The regulator also develops
algorithms for processing data on price dynamics that come to the relevant
department of the Central Bank from online cash registers. In addition to data
on the banks themselves, the Central Bank plans to create a system that will
analyze publications about credit institutions and companies that they lend in
the media.<a></a><a></a>
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-razrabatyvaet-algoritm-dlia-vyiavleniia-manipuliatsii-na-finansovykh-rynkakh/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a>
</p>

Central Bank of the Russian Federation is developing an algorithm to detect manipulations in the financial markets

    <p>
    By the end of 2020, the Bank of Russia will launch a platform for receiving financial services remotely and comparing of the cost of services. More than 10 partner banks will soon connect to the marketplace.
</p>
    <p>
    The marketplace will allow Russians to arrange financial products without visiting the offices of banks and other financial organizations. It will work through aggregator showcases of already existing portals, including Banki.ru and Sravni.ru. Banki.ru is ready for the launch of the all-Russian marketplace on October 1, Sravni.ru also maintains a high degree of readiness for the launch of the project.
</p>
    <p>
    In the coming month, the marketplace will be launched in test mode for a limited number of users in two dozen regions. In the future the marketplace will be supplemented with investment, credit and insurance products. 
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-rf-do-kontsa-2020-goda-zapustit-pervyi-v-rossii-finansovyi-marketpleis/">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

Izvestia

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation will launch the first financial marketplace in Russia by the end of 2020

    <p>
    The Central Bank of the Russian Federation endorsed six projects within the framework of the special regulatory regimes that can be implemented. This information was reported by TASS with reference to Ivan Zimin, Director of the Department of Financial Technologies of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. “We have received more than 60 applications within the sandbox, the piloting of 11 projects has already been completed, 6 projects have been  endorsed, and decisions on 5 projects have already been made”, - said Zimin. 
</p>
    <p>
    The Central Bank of the Russian Federation launched the regulatory sandbox in 2018. It is a testbed with no customers and operations where the prototype is being tested, and all risks are assessed together with government authorities and the business community. When the testing and piloting of the project are completed, the Central Bank either endorses it and develops legal regulation, or does not endorse the project for reasons related to economic risks and  operational and information security risks.
</p>
    <p>
    According to Zimin, the projects that were received by the Central Bank are mostly focused on digital rights, distributed ledger technology, biometric technologies and data analytics.
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/tsb-odobril-shest-proektov-reguliatornoi-pesochnitsy/">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

TASS

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation endorsed six projects of the regulatory sandbox

exclusive

Tech in Moscow

analytics

Digest about AI in Russia

Columns

interview

ICT.Moscow  — Market in brief

    <p>
    <i>The weekly observer of Moscow's tech stories</i>
</p>
<hr />
<h2>
    MARKET IN BRIEF
</h2>

<div>
    <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
         src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/969a67bd-73ba-547a-ba4c-0d22a669bf4e.png">
</div>

    <p>
    <i>Image: Christopher Schirner / Flickr</i>
</p>
<ul>
    <li>Russia is the First Country <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/russia-is-the-first-country-to-submit-un-cybersecurity-convention/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">to Submit</a> UN Cybersecurity Convention</li>
    <li>Gaming Courses <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/gaming-courses-to-be-introduced-to-russian-state-universities-programs/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">to Be Introduced</a> to Russian State Universities’ Programs</li>
    <li>Rostec <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/rostec-to-create-a-fund-for-investments-in-edtech-and-hr-tech/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">to Create</a> a Fund for Investments in EdTech and HR-Tech (Cards of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Rostec" target="_blank">Rostec</a>)</li>
    <li>Yandex <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/plans-to-spend-650-ml-on-e-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Plans</a> to Spend $650 ml on E-Commerce (Cards of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Yandex" target="_blank">Yandex</a>)</li>
    <li>Kaspersky Lab <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/kaspersky-lab-presents-a-system-for-real-time-recognition-from-drones/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Presents</a> a System for Real-Time Recognition from Drones (Cards of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Kaspersky_Lab" target="_blank">Kaspersky Lab</a>)</li>
    <li>Blockchain-Based Time Capsule <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/blockchain-based-time-capsule-to-be-developed-in-moscow/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">to Be Developed</a> in Moscow</li>
</ul>

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
            <p><b>GOV AGENDA</b></p>
            <p>Digital Assets Operators <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/digital-assets-operators-create-association-in-russia/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Create</a> Association in Russia</p>
            <p>Subsidies for Driverless <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/subsidies-for-driveless-testing-in-russia-prolong-for-2022/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Testing</a> in Russia Prolong for 2022</p>
            <p>Russia’s Major Banks <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/russias-major-banks-plan-to-join-unified-biometric-system/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">To Join</a> Unified Biometric System</p>
    </div>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/" style="" target="_blank"><b>More news →</b></a>
</p>
<hr />
<h2>
    INVESTMENT DEALS&nbsp;AND FINANCIAL REPORTS
</h2>

<ul>
    <li>MTS <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/mts-acquires-controlling-stake-in-factorin/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Acquires</a> Controlling Stake in Factorin (Card of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/factorin/" target="_blank">Factorin</a>)</li>
    <li>Edtech Uchi.ru <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/edtech-uchi-ru-buys-a-share-in-tutoronline/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Buys</a> a Share in TutorOnline (Card of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/tutoronline/" target="_blank">TutorOnline</a>)</li>
    <li>Teachbase Edtech <a href="http://ict.moscow/en/news/teachbase-raised-investment-for-scaling/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">raised</a> Investment </li>
    <li>Yandex <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/yandex-reports-strong-second-quarter-results-plans-to-spend-650-ml-on-e-commerce/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Upgraded</a> its Revenue Forecast for 2021 to $4.6 billion</li>
    <li>Mail.ru <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/mail-ru-posts-17-4-growth-in-second-quarter-2021-revenue/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Posts</a> 17.4% Growth in Second Quarter 2021 Revenue</li>
</ul>

<hr />
<h2>
    ANALYTICS AND INSIGHTS
</h2>

    <p>
    <i>researches, monitorings, reports and other analytics of Moscow and Russian IT market</i>
</p>
<ul>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/internet-infrastructure-of-russia-during-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS</a>: Internet infrastructure of Russia during the pandemic →</li>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/smart-home-device-market-in-the-first-half-of-2021/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">M.VIDEO-ELDORADO</a>: Smart home device market in the first half of 2021 →</li>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/the-dynamics-of-emergence-of-new-software-companies-in-russia/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">RUSSOFT</a>: The dynamics of emergence of new software companies in Russia →</li>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/results-of-the-analysis-of-the-security-of-russian-companies/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">ROSTELECOM-SOLAR</a>: Results of the analysis of the security of Russian companies <b>→</b></li>
</ul>

    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/" target="_blank"><b>More analytics →</b></a>
</p>
<hr />
<h2>
    DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FROM MOSCOW
</h2>

    <p>
    <i>a showcase of some </i><b><i>EduTech solutions</i></b>
</p>
<ul>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/uchi-ru/" target="_blank">Uchi.ru</a></li>
</ul>

    <p>
    The education online platform used by the students of first grade through eleventh grade for studying school subjects in an entertaining manner.
</p>
<ul>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/tutoronline/" target="_blank">TutorOnline</a></li>
</ul>

    <p>
    Online school that allows to study mathematics and Russian, physics and chemistry, as well as foreign languages, programming, probability theory and other sciences
</p>
<ul>
    <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/getcourse/" target="_blank">GetCourse</a></li>
</ul>

    <p>
    Online learning platform
</p>
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=education" target="_blank"><b>More solutions  →</b></a>
</p>
<hr />
    <p>
    
</p>
<h2>
    KEY ACTORS IN IT
</h2>

    <p>
    <i>discover people who stand behind the innovative companies and projects in Moscow</i>
</p>
    <p>
    <b>Ilya Parshin</b>, CEO of Uchi.ru | <a href="https://ru.linkedin.com/in/ilya-parshin-034129a8" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>
</p>
    <p>
    <b>Andrey Maklin</b>, Founder of Factorin  | <a href="https://ru.linkedin.com/in/amaklin" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">LinkedIn</a>
</p>
    <p>
    <b>Svetlana Demyashkevich, </b>Chief Financial Officer at Yandex  | <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/svetlana-demyashkevich-57508b1" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>
</p>
    <p>
    <b>Vasily Maguryan, </b>Chief Executive Officer at MY.GAMES | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vmaguryan" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a>
</p>
<hr />
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/?filterCategory=Tech-in-Moscow">Previous Tech in Moscow newsletters</a>
</p>

The weekly observer of Moscow's tech stories

ICT.Moscow

Tech in Moscow #25 (26 - 30 July 2021)

Review of CityTech services landscape worldwide and particularly in Moscow

CityTech: a fresh approach to digital services for residents of big cities

    <p>
    The idea of ​​creating the “National video surveillance platform” information system <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-rossii-obsuzhdaetsia-sozdanie-edinoi-sistemy-videonabliudeniia/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">is being discussed</a> in Russia. The system will unite city video surveillance systems throughout the country and become a unified framework for analyzing incoming video data. The model in which cameras will be equipped with computing modules and independently recognize and record incidents, and only after that send the video stream to data centers, will be taken as the basis for the system.
</p>
<h2>
    <b>Pros and cons</b><b></b>
</h2>

    <p>
    The technique, where surveillance cameras with built-in “on-board” video analytics modules are responsible for primary video processing before sending it to the server, is called “edge analytics” - product director of Ivideon, a cloud surveillance systems developer, Zaur Abutalimov explains. In general, experts mentioned both advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    If we speak about the advantages,
first of all, the use of such a system reduces the load on servers. Secondly,
in the long term, this approach can help reduce the operational costs of both
the data center and communication channels. Thirdly, the video surveillance and
video analytics systems are being accelerated, they become faster. This is
achieved due to the fact that the video stream comes to the camera directly
from the matrix, it is not compressed or additionally processed.
        </p>
                        <p>
                    
        </p>
                        <p>
                    
        </p>
                        <p>
                    
        </p>
                        <p>
                    
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Zaur Abutalimov" src="https://ict.moscow/static/30a26b46-6786-5ddf-b7a7-ca06d82092d5.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Zaur Abutalimov
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Product director of Ivideon</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    Other market participants have given similar arguments.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    If we consider video cameras networks at the regional level, the introduction of AI cameras will have a cumulative effect on the speed of response processing and will help to save money on the volume of storage on the central node.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Igor Afonin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/51464563-1398-51d6-891c-dec320af5d30.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Igor Afonin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Director of Multimedia Center and Situation Centers, “T1 Integration”</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    Despite the higher cost of such cameras, the cost of equipment in the data center will decrease, and in the long term and in case of scaling, the project can be cost-effective.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    The proposed solution will significantly increase the number of cameras and reduce the cost of the entire system.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Nikita Mokhnatkin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/e238e1c6-eb0b-54d6-9fa7-2e03f2f17afa.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Nikita Mokhnatkin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Head of the information systems security sector, Innopolis University</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    Moreover, since the decision to transmit the video signal to the control center will be made by the camera itself, the recognition algorithms must ensure the highest accuracy in detecting illegal actions, Mokhnatkin points out. However, today, according to ISS, it is still too early to talk about it.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    So far, the computing resources of the cameras are not sufficient for the operation of complex video analytics algorithms or complex solutions, where identification of an incident is based on the result of processing data from several video analytics detectors. Thus, the use of video analytics is limited to simple detectors, for example, “abandoned objects”, “object counting”, “line crossing”, “face detection”, etc. Server analytics allows to implement much more flexible and complex solutions.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    ISS
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Press service</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    Nevertheless, the company representatives add that the quality of processing by built-in video analytics algorithms “on board” the camera can still be higher, and it can be feasible to use the system if narrow data transmission channels are available, or during short-term projects, for example, at public events (festivals, concerts, etc. etc.).
</p>
    <p>
    Market participants mentioned information security risks, the inability to conduct retrospective video analysis, the use of video from one camera to detect different types of incidents, and the necessity to use the products of certain vendors among the main disadvantages of using cameras with computing modules.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    Another challenge in using such devices is the need to modernize and update the databases in each of them. For example, in a conventional video surveillance system, it is enough to replace one camera with another with similar or superior characteristics and, if necessary, separately improve the server capacity - the data will be processed in the data center regardless of which source sent it. But this is not the case with a smart camera.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Pavel Lobanovsky" src="https://ict.moscow/static/1ad8b081-04c6-5f5c-b440-3d320142dd98.png">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Pavel Lobanovsky
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Expert of the engineering systems unit of the IT outsourcing department, KORUS Consulting Group</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    The proposed model has both positive and negative features, so it can be assumed that hybrid solutions will be preferable.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    Speaking about the national video surveillance platform, it is necessary to take into account the fact that a huge number of video surveillance networks using cameras with different functionalities have already been deployed in the regions. What approach can prevail in this case is not very clear yet. I believe that a hybrid option will most likely be chosen - in this case new networks will use AI cameras when the need arises, and old networks will be integrated via cheaper communication channels with the central core of the platform.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Igor Afonin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/40f306d4-2f61-5c8b-8c38-c505a3e12d3b.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Igor Afonin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Director of Multimedia Center and Situation Centers, “T1 Integration”</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    Alexander Sivolobov from Skoltech believes that there is no alternative to smart IP cameras. But in this context the question is what functionality will be entrusted to the cameras, and what functions will be performed by centralized data centers.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    It is most likely that the main question will be what kind of architecture the solution will have. Probably, it will be a divided unit, where there will be a separate camera from a well-known manufacturer, and next to it there will be a small server with a system for recognizing faces, cars, etc.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Alexander Sivolobov" src="https://ict.moscow/static/92fd8dd5-2331-5233-9484-87638224f7dc.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Alexander Sivolobov
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Deputy Head of the Skoltech-based NTI Center of Excellence in Wireless Technologies and the Internet of Things</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
<h2>
    <b>Security issues</b><b></b>
</h2>

    <p>
    Information security risks - possible data leaks and unauthorized access by intruders - are the most widely discussed issue of the potential use of cameras with computing modules.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    It is true that additional information security risks are emerging. Smart cameras will be of much greater interest to cybercriminals: the cameras will probably contain confidential data, ranging from the accounts using which they will be connected to the data center to provide remote control or to download updated databases, which will be used for search, to the data itself and the software.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Sergey Nenakhov" src="https://ict.moscow/static/4f8e9447-8188-5306-8dd6-ddf11358a2a7.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Sergey Nenakhov
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Head of information security audit department, Infosecurity (a Softline Company)</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    Special attention is paid to the potential risks of compromising biometric data.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    The use of biometric data is becoming more popular, however, in my opinion, protective measures for the collection, storage and processing of such data are not enough. Today, the only good thing that protects us from large-scale incidents is the fact that biometric data is used just as an additional security factor.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Sergey Zolotukhin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/50bd80d1-9c76-5b88-8ab3-e18376adc59e.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Sergey Zolotukhin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Information security specialist, Group-IB</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    Sergey Nenakhov from Softline believes that due to the relative physical accessibility of individual devices it will be necessary to pay special attention to protecting channels of communication with the data center, and protecting data on the device, for example, using encryption. Andrey Arsentiev from InfoWatch Group says that cybercriminals will be interested in the data in central storages. According to the expert, it will be necessary “to implement measures to protect data from copying and transmission by internal violators”.
</p>
    <p>
    Nikita Mokhnatkin from Innopolis University has a different point of view. He believes that the proposed model is more secure.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    The decentralized architecture will ensure information security of personal data. It is easier to protect one server than hundreds of cameras. At the same time, if the intruders manage to hack a classic data center, they will get access to all information at once, and in the case of separate surveillance cameras only a small part of information will be available to violators.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Nikita Mokhnatkin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/973ea9c7-6995-59d0-8976-c02b25f3c78d.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Nikita Mokhnatkin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Head of the information systems security sector, Innopolis University</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    
</p>
<h2>
    <b>Experience of the first ones</b><b></b>
</h2>

    <p>
    Global surveillance systems are being implemented all over the world, they are widely used in Asian countries. But the use of cameras with built-in computing modules will be an innovation.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    I am not aware of any significant experience in using such systems. The implementation of advanced technologies for detecting illegal actions is “at the cutting edge” of technologies, these are the latest scientific achievements, and it will not be possible to “adopt someone’s experience”. These are innovations, and in this case Russia is in the first echelon.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Nikita Mokhnatkin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/56937e4d-06dc-5716-961a-3ab4f9f5e945.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Nikita Mokhnatkin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Head of the information systems security sector, Innopolis University</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    Both ISS and T1 Integration representatives mention this point.
</p>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    I have not seen materials on the implementation of large video surveillance systems using AI cameras with a detailed description of the functionality in the open sources.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                    <div class="quote-owner__logo">
                <img alt="Igor Afonin" src="https://ict.moscow/static/3c081c93-e7b7-5c69-85bc-00aebbf4bbc6.jpeg">
            </div >
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    Igor Afonin
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Director of Multimedia Center and Situation Centers, “T1 Integration”</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
<div class="incut-block ">
                        <p class="quote-icon">
                    It seems like we have not seen similar projects, which have been maintained for a long time after launch.
        </p>
        <div class="quote-owner">
                <div>
            <p class="quote-owner__title">
                                    ISS
                            </p>
                            <p class="quote-owner__description">Press service</p>
                    </div>
    </div>
</div>
    <p>
    However, Zaur Abutalimov from Ivideon notes that the use of cameras with built-in video analytics modules in local projects is <i>“a worldwide practice for Safe City projects, which has already replaced the outdated continuous streaming method, which is less secure due to possible failures resulting from increased load on the network and servers”</i>. The expert mentions the example of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-ready-for-facial-recognition-at-the-airport-11565775008" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">using</a> facial recognition at the check-in counters in US airports, and the example of <a href="https://www.tadviser.ru/index.php/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82:%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%80_%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%BC_%D0%B2_%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B5_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%8E_%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%83_%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%86_%D0%B4%D0%BB%D1%8F_%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">using</a> technology for identification in Singapore.
</p>
    <p>
    In other words, edge analytics technology is currently used only in local projects in some countries and is at the initial stage of development. The implementation of such a video surveillance project at the national level may set a great precedent on the world stage.
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/reaktsiia-otrasli-v-rossii-obsuzhdaiut-sozdanie-edinoi-sistemy-videonabliudeniia/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

Experts — about the advantages and disadvantages of the “National video surveillance platform”

The creation of a unified video surveillance system is being discussed in Russia

Smart assistants in Russia: market overview, trends and prospects

    <p>
    ICT.Moscow jointly with the Moscow Government launches the <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/projects/smartcitymoscow/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Smart City Moscow</a> section. It includes information on 68 Moscow projects in the field of "smart cities",  which is published in English for the first time. Project include <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/projects/smartcitymoscow/case/5g-demo-center/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">5G Demo Center,</a> <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/projects/smartcitymoscow/case/experimental-legal-regime-in-the-field-of-ai/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">an experimental legal regime in the field of AI</a>, <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/projects/smartcitymoscow/case/analysis-of-radiology-images-using-ai" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">analysis of radiological images using AI</a> and others. 
</p>
    <p>
    All projects are divided into the following "smart city" categories: human and social capital, digital government, urban environment, urban economy, end-to-end technologies, digital technologies and communications. Each project includes description, key results, and an indication of relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals.
</p>
    <p>
    The following materials are also included in the section:&nbsp;
</p>
<ul>
    <li>a selection of more than 600 open data sets on urban infrastructure facilities</li>
</ul>

<ul>
    <li>more than 30 sets of data collected by the Department of Prospective Projects of the IT Department of Moscow Government according to ISO37120 and U4SSC international standards</li>
</ul>

<ul>
    <li>news, research, monitoring, reports and other "smart city" analytics</li>
</ul>

    <p>
    This section will be useful for foreign companies, governments and analysts to study the Moscow practices and look for new ideas for their projects. The section will be regularly updated in the future.&nbsp;
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/na-ict-moscow-dostupen-pervyi-angloiazychnyi-katalog-moskovskikh-reshenii-smart-city/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

ICT.Moscow launches the first English-language catalog of Moscow smart city solutions

    <p>
    An international version of the blockchain tech base<a href="https://ict.moscow/en/projects/blockchain/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> has become available</a> at ICT.Moscow. The new section presents 52 Russian practices of technology application in various fields. Practices of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, Sberbank, Norilsk Nickel, the Moscow Government, Rostelecom, Kaspersky Lab, Russian Railways, S7 Airlines, M.Video, Megafon and others are included in the section.<br>
</p>
    <p>
    For ease of study, all practices are divided into several categories: FinTech, Public sector, Industry and Energy, Logistics and Transport, Retail, MedTech, E-document flow, EdTech, HR-Tech, Real estate and other. Most of the cases are presented in the areas of FinTech - 16 and Public sector - 13.<br>
</p>
    <p>
    Cards with descriptions of blockchain solutions developed by Moscow developers, and market analytics are also available in the new section.
</p>
    <p>
    Project will be useful for analysts and smart city experts, as well as developers of blockchain projects to find new scenarios and partnerships. In the future, the blockchain tech base will be regularly updated with new cases.<br>
</p>
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/na-ict-moscow-zapushchena-mezhdunarodnaia-versiia-bazy-znanii-o-blokcheine/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>
</p>

Tech base contains 52 Russian cases of technology application

ICT.Moscow opens up free access to a blockchain tech base with Russian practices aimed at a variety of industry verticals

    <p>
    <i>Expert column by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fotokir">Kirill Polyakov</a>, Head of Distributed Registry Technology department at the IT Department of Moscow Government.</i>
</p>
    <p>
    For the first time, remote electronic voting was conducted as an experiment during the elections of deputies to the Moscow City Duma on September 8, 2019 in three voting districts. The solution was created from scratch and tested by the IT Department of Moscow Government in less than one year. Most of the key participants and customers claim that the experience was successful, the system passed all the tests and proved its resistance to hacking. Thus, the experiment confirmed that the system can be used for other votes. You can read more about that experience on <a target="_blank" href="https://habr.com/ru/article/480152/">Habr</a>.
</p>
    <p>
    Back then in 2019 a technical working group was created, and it continued to work on the subsequent projects (anyone can become part of the group, details will be further elaborated in the article). The group made critical comments and also motivated the developers to continuously improve the project. At the same time, we received a lot of useful feedback, including the comments from the international expert on cryptography and election law Pierrick Gaudry. We realized the importance of internal audit with the involvement of the best teams for reviewing the system - including the search for vulnerabilities, developing a threat model, analyzing the code and functionality. As a result, the&nbsp; IT Department of Moscow Government became the first representative of the public sector in the world to present the <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/moscow-technologies/blockchain-voting">open source code</a>&nbsp;of the solution, particularly the back-end and key modules.
</p>
    <p>
    The main thing about that e-voting was that it was conducted as an experiment. We needed to understand whether such a solution was feasible. Therefore, the particular chosen technical solution was not the focus; it was the project itself that was important - how it would be perceived and how the system would work during the test voting.
</p>
    <p>
    The most useful thing during the first launch of an IT system is open testing. We conducted four of them. During the testing, we worked out various risks from the threat model: blackouts, Internet outages, DDoS attacks, etc. This experience was used in the next votings.
</p>
<div>
    <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
         src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/3a8f0621-bb87-55d6-a911-306295c1d9bf.jpeg">
</div>

<h2>
    Differences in 2020
</h2>

    <p>
    On June 25-July 1, 2020, the nationwide voting on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation was held. In Moscow and in the Nizhniy Novgorod Region it was organized also in a remote electronic format using the blockchain&nbsp; technology (which was especially important during the pandemic).
</p>
    <p>
    Having considered the available input data, we anticipated a load of 1 million voters. It was clear that Ethereum blockchain platform previously used in the electronic voting system would simply not be able to handle the load. We started to look for other options and chose Exonum, one of the fastest blockchains. It was also important for us that it was geared to solve problems as a private blockchain.
</p>
    <p>
    Another new challenge in 2020 was to provide an “everlasting” election ballot. It is a ballot with an unlimited validity throughout the entire voting period that will not disappear if the computer of the voter freezes, communication failure occurs, etc. The “everlasting” ballot was available on the same device in the same browser in which it was first opened, provided that the link to it was saved.
</p>
    <p>
    In addition to Moscow, the Nizhniy Novgorod Region participated in the e-voting on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, so we provided voters with the opportunity to log in not only via mos.ru (the official portal of Moscow Mayor and Moscow Government), but also via gosuslugi.ru federal portal (public services portal of the Russian Federation). Attempts to log in in both systems were automatically blocked (only the first application for participation was taken into account). We also took into account the critical comments concerning cryptography in the 2019 voting and implemented a more modern solution based on the Curve25519 elliptic curve, which is used as the default key exchange in OpenSSH, I2p, Tor, Tox and even IOS.
</p>
    <p>
    Another challenge was the growing load on all systems of the government of Moscow due to the self-isolation regime: residents started to actively use electronic services and the load on the channels increased significantly.
</p>
<h2>
    Architecture of the system
</h2>

    <p>
    In order to increase the resiliency of the remote voting system we implemented a distributed architecture by using geographically dispersed data centers. This ensured fault tolerance - the system can continue to work even if there is a power outage in an entire district in ​​Moscow. We tested such a scenario before conducting the voting - we disabled one of the data centers and checked the stability of the operation of individual components and the whole system. We also used satellite platforms to fulfill the load requirements.
</p>
    <p>
    The blockchain was distributed into two nodes for each data center - six nodes in three data centers in total, plus an observer node (details outlined further). The system is peer-to-peer, so working in the mode when one data center is the master, and the second is backup is impossible.
</p>
    <p>
    The situation that occurred at the end of 2017 confirmed that Ethereum blockchain network cannot handle the high load. Then the transactions were not confirmed for several days, and sometimes they simply were not completed. It should be mentioned that at that time neither the high-tier application, which caused the excessive load, nor the main network was working, although the application accounted for only 10% of the total number of transactions. Obviously, such a point of failure is not suitable for the voting process, since it is strictly regulated by the timeline and transactions cannot be delayed even for a few minutes, let alone hours.
</p>
    <p>
    Bitcoin network has a throughput of about 10 transactions per second, so it is also not suitable. With such a load, only 860 thousand people can vote in a 24 hours period, provided that no other transactions are processed at that time, which is impossible. We understood that the only possible way was to use a private network that allows connecting external observers.
</p>
    <p>
    The observer node was implemented in such a way that it is possible to monitor the results in real time. The node was presented as a web interface that allows to view and download encrypted results in real time. The next step is to implement a full-fledged node, but it is necessary to foresee the risk of impacting the network through the observer node. The main advantage of electronic voting is the ease of monitoring the processes. But it is also important to find a balance between transparency and vulnerability. Therefore, our next step is anchoring to a public network (a mechanism for checking data from a private blockchain for immutability by publishing it to a bigger network with a large number of participants and blocks).
</p>
    <p>
    In the future the electronic voting system will be available on mobile devices - we will try to enable synchronization with the node, provide processor power to&nbsp; ensure control and arrange an additional channel for calculating the result. The plans also include the development of the web interface’s functionality. We anticipate the development of greater opportunities for collaboration and verifying of the result at the observer level.
</p>
<h2>
    Special features of the electronic ballot
</h2>

    <p>
    The most secure component of the remote electronic voting system was the ballot. Participation in the remote electronic voting was confirmed by entering SMS verification code and getting access to the electronic ballot.We envisaged a set of measures in case something goes wrong for the user. For example, the received link to the ballot could be opened in the same browser and on the same device at any time before the end of the electronic voting (20:00 on June 30th), provided that the device was not turned off, restarted, and that its memory was not cleared. If the Internet connection is lost or the device experienced any other disruptions in operation, the user just had to refresh the page with the ballot after the Internet connection was restored - this returned the ballot one step back to the “preview” mode and allowed to continue voting.
</p>
    <p>
    The “vote” button appeared immediately after choosing an answer option in the ballot. After pressing the button, the ballot was encrypted on the voter’s device and sent to the blockchain. If the Internet connection was interrupted at the time of sending, the encrypted ballot was sent immediately after the connection was restored.
</p>
<h2>
    Anonymization and mixing
</h2>

    <p>
    When designing the system, two fundamental mechanisms - anonymizer and mixer - were implemented to preserve the secrecy of the vote and the anonymity of the voter.
</p>
    <p>
    The anonymizer made it impossible to track or identify the user, since the page is not connected with the identification data about the user and does not contain any artifacts and information about the person.
</p>
    <p>
    And the mixer put voices into groups and randomly mixed the votes before sending them to the blockchain. This excluded the possibility of comparing the cast votes by the time they was received.
</p>
<h2>
    Non-obvious requirements
</h2>

    <p>
    Our remote electronic voting system had several functions and elements which seem strange and unnecessary at first glance, however, they are required by current legislation. A striking example is the transmission of voting results to the state automated system “Vybory” (“Elections”). This process was not automated on purpose and was carried out manually by an operator from the Moscow City Election Commission on a special secure computer in the premises of the Territorial Election Commission for Remote Electronic Voting.
</p>
    <p>
    Another example is the use of the so-called blockchain printers, which “left a&nbsp; paper trace” online - they printed encrypted key transactions online: providing access to the ballot, recording encrypted voice in the blockchain. These printers make it possible to count ballots manually if requested. It is also one of the mandatory requirements.
</p>
<h2>
    Testing of the system
</h2>

    <p>
    To check the fault tolerance of the system, we conducted load tests (a set of measures to check all network components using the load that is close to or exceeding the expected one) every day until the day of the voting. The public test of the system (a real voting for Moscow residents and the residents of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region) was carried out for two days in order to practice emergency scenarios. In the meantime, the applications for the main voting were already being accepted, and this process did not stop even during the test voting period.
</p>
    <p>
    As in 2019, we announced a 2 million rubles prize (equivalent to $26.4 thousand) for hacking the system (during the testing, not on the voting days). But nobody managed to do it again.
</p>
<h2>
    Voting and interpretation of results
</h2>

    <p>
    Then the remote electronic online voting was completed on June 30 at 20:00 Moscow time, the data on voters who registered for electronic voting, but did not vote in electronic form, were transferred to the “Vybory” state automated system. They were added to the voter lists at district election committees at their place of registration, and were provided with an opportunity to vote offline on voting day, July 1. All this time, before the decryption started, the system had been closed for accepting ballots, but all monitoring tools were operating, so it was possible to make sure that there were no manipulations, and the blockchain generated zero transaction blocks.
</p>
<h2>
    Participation of experts
</h2>

    <p>
    From our experience in 2019 we knew that such projects require the involvement of a lot of industry professionals. Positive Technologies and Kaspersky Lab, as one of the most competent and influential players in the Russian information security market, were engaged to audit the system.
</p>
    <p>
    The technical working group included critical IT professionals, with the new members who became part of the group in 2020. For example, representatives of the Party Of Direct Democracy, which is a competitor, since its agenda includes the development of its own electronic voting. However, this is the case when joint participation in such projects strengthens and enriches each of the parties.
</p>
    <p>
    Due to the pandemic, almost all meetings were held online, and the broadcast of the meetings was recorded. To ensure quick communication between the members of the technical working group, a Telegram chat was created. It includes representatives of the IT Department of&nbsp; Moscow Government from different areas who answer questions. By the way, they are still doing it, even after the project is completed, and the chat is constantly active.
</p>
    <p>
    As for Pierrick Gaudry, who in 2019 provided valuable comments regarding the mechanism for encrypting votes and the operation of the system, this time he refused to participate in the audit of the system due to the lack of documentation for the system in English.
</p>
    <p>
    The decryption of the votes was launched after the end of the voting (after 20:00 Moscow time, July 1). It took about 10 minutes. The results of electronic voting in two constituent entities of the Russian Federation - Moscow and the Nizhniy Novgorod Region - were publicly presented upon completion of the decryption, and were also transferred to the “Vybory” state automated system for summing up the voting results in the country.
</p>
<h2>
    The work will be continued
</h2>

    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://habr.com/ru/">Habr</a> can become a platform for working out the organizational and technical aspects of the project, and if you have questions about the code and suggestions for improving the system, we suggest using <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/moscow-technologies/blockchain-voting">GitHub</a>.
</p>
    <p>
    To become part of the technical working group, please send us your full name and contact information by e-mail (<a target="_blank" href="http://support-vybory@mos.ru">support-vybory@mos.ru</a>), and also briefly describe your competencies and why you are interested in joining the group.
</p>
<hr />
    <p>
    
</p>
    <p>
    <b>Other blockchain-related materials on ICT.Moscow:</b>
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/?tags=blockchain">News on blockchain on ICT.Moscow</a>
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/mindsmith-column-blockchain-trends/">Column on the main trends in blockchain in 2020</a>
</p>
    <p>
    <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=blockchain">Blockchain cards on ICT.Moscow</a>
</p>
    <p>
    
</p>

Expert column by Kirill Polyakov, Head of Distributed Registry Technology department at the IT Department of Moscow Government