Information Security's Place in the National Security System: Actual Problems of Information Law

In connection with the development of information and communication technologies and the increase in the likelihood of threats in the conditions of information development of society, the problem of information security in ensuring the national security of the state becomes urgent. It is no coincidence that the legislator responds promptly to the challenges that arise in this area. According to the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, special attention is paid to information security in the national security system, since rapidly developing information technologies contribute to the emergence of new challenges and threats. In view of this, the role of information security in the national security system is being strengthened. At the same time, national security is the security of both the population living on the territory of the country, and the authorities, and the environment as a whole. All this testifies to the multidimensional nature of national security.

Consequently, the adopted strategic planning documents testify to the strengthening of the sovereignty of the state in the information field, which are important in building an information system. The scientific literature has unanimously concluded that the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation is important for guaranteeing the protection of citizens' rights and freedoms in the field of security. In this regulatory legal act, the concept of security is considered in a broad sense and includes state, economic, information, public, environmental and other types of security ^[1]. At the same time, the legislator in the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation attaches particular importance to information security ^{[2, p. 45]}. This is due to the fact that in the context of global digital transformation, the use of information weapons is increasing.

At the same time, N.V. Beketov rightly notes that the concept of "information security" is a complex legal phenomenon from the point of view of information law, since the above definition should be considered in law as an independent supranational type of universal security, since today information law affects all spheres of public life and ensures the development of the state as a whole ^{[3, p. 33]}.

In our opinion, such a position could have a stronger justification if States sought to ensure universal international information security. Strategic documents of foreign countries mainly take care of their own information sovereignty. The information security of other states often concerns other participants in the geopolitical struggle only to the extent that information threats affecting the interests of one state may affect the national interests of another state. Such a situation is possible with close integration cooperation between countries, which involves mutual protection of classified information. Building partnership and allied relations presupposes mutual responsibility for the information security of each of the participants of the integration association.

At the same time, it should be noted that in information law, the legal regulation of information security issues is reflected in the Information Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation. This normative legal act regulates part of public relations in the information sphere, thanks to which the security of the state in the information sphere is demonstrated and further improvement of legal institutions is determined in order to balance the interests of the individual, society and the state in the information environment.

Particular attention in the science of information law is paid to the issues of the state of legal support of the studied sub-branch of law, so in accordance with paragraph 8 of the Information Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation, the following features of national interests can be distinguished:

1) transparency and transparency of the state's activities in the information sphere;

2) guarantee of protection of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens concerning information security;

3) mutual and coordinated functioning of the state and civil society, including within the framework of strengthening the moral values of society;

4) ensuring the proper functioning of the information infrastructure both in the case of the direct impact of information threats, and during a stable peaceful situation in the country;

5) stimulating scientific and technological progress and the development of economic sectors that contribute to ensuring information security;

6) integration cooperation with other countries to ensure international information security and strategic stability ^[4].

National interests in the field of information security represent common guidelines for public authorities that are entrusted with the role of neutralizing information threats and conflicts. The list of national interests enshrined in strategic planning documents is the legal foundation on which the entire national security system stands.

In the aspect of legal regulation of relations in the field of national security, the following goals can be distinguished: the settlement of public relations that have developed between subjects on national security issues and the creation of conditions for achieving an optimal level of security in political, legal, military, information and socio-economic spheres. In our opinion, these goals are aimed at the implementation of constitutional norms, the implementation of which is impossible without the use of information and communication technologies. Thus, the demonstrated semantic understanding allows us to consider national and information security as a certain public good, the value of which is rapidly increasing under the condition of coordinated interaction not only of public authorities, but also of civil society. Consequently, the state of information security depends not only on the activities of the legislator or law enforcement officer, but also on the lawful and responsible behavior of citizens and organizations.

From the perspective of the issues raised, constitutional reforms should be particularly noted. In accordance with the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the issues of information, information technologies and communications, as well as ensuring the security of the individual, society and the state when using information and computer technologies are assigned to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. As noted by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences T.Y. Khabrieva and constitutional scientist A.A. Klishas, the expansion of the subjects of jurisdiction of Russia, according to the results of amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, is associated with an increase in the number of users in the information environment, some of whom information technologies are used for illegal actions. Thus, the expansion of the powers of the state in regulating public relations in this area is associated with socio-economic prerequisites. However , the authors noted: "The provision of almost all types of services via the Internet has long been a reality, as has the need for technological as well as legal protection of digital data. Therefore, along with defense and security, Article 71 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation now includes issues of ensuring the security of the individual, society and the state in the use of digital technologies, the circulation of digital data" ^{[5, p. 68]}.

It is important to note that the obligation of the state to take measures aimed at maintaining peace in order to ensure national security can be considered as a constitutional and legal guarantee of sovereignty, integrity and non-interference in internal and external affairs, we note that the constitutional novelties strictly comply with strategic planning documents. As T.A. Polyakova and A.V. Minbaleev rightly note, the relevance of the study of the issues of legal regulation of legal relations in the information sphere is determined by the emergence of new constitutional guarantees of information security ^{[6, p. 120]}.

In this regard, attention should be paid to the act of the judicial body of constitutional control, which states the following: "Minimizing the informational and psychological impact exerted on the population by a terrorist act, including weakening its agitation and propaganda effect, is one of the necessary ways to protect public safety, morality, health, rights and legitimate interests of citizens, i.e.e. pursues precisely those goals with which the Constitution of the Russian Federation and international legal documents link the permissibility of restricting the relevant rights and freedoms"^[7]. Thus, the position of the judicial authority is that minimizing the negative information impact is one of the main ways to protect public safety. At the same time, these system-forming provisions are reflected in the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation.

If we pay attention to the hotel norms of by-laws in the field of information society development, we can conclude that the provisions of the above-mentioned normative act affect not only information security, economic development and modernization in the field of defense, but also new legal relations arising in the process of searching, collecting and storing information. According to paragraph 46 of the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, one of the main goals of state security is to create appropriate conditions for the use of information technologies ^[8]. In view of this, the current legislation is being improved.  According to T.A. Polyakova, the improvement of the legal regulation of information security should have a systematic, complex character, eliminating the ambiguity of key concepts and their definitions ^{[9, p. 120]}. It is worth agreeing with this statement, since fundamental violations in the conceptual and categorical apparatus are fraught with a violation of the uniformity of judicial practice due to the impossibility of establishing the true meaning of legal norms that contradict each other.

Thus, it follows from the analysis of the Law on Information Protection that the information component is an essential factor in the development of the national policy of the state. To confirm this position, we can cite the words of V.N. Lopatin, who in his dissertation research noted that the role of information security and its place in the national security system is determined by the state information policy, which inextricably interacts with the state policy of ensuring national security of the country through the information security system, where the latter acts as an important link of all the main components of state policy in a single whole" ^{[10, p. 85]}.

It can be concluded that the information policy of the Russian Federation is a regulator of public and private legal relations, through which the strategic objectives of the state are implemented. Information security, as a type of national security, by its regulatory influence permeates all the diversity of social relations arising in the process of human and state life. It follows from this that the legislator should improve not only the norms of a public-legal nature containing prescriptions and prohibitions, but also private-law norms, the construction of which is based on permissive (dispositive) regulation.