Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed off on a broad-ranging plan aimed at bolstering the country’s defenses against cyber attacks from abroad and cracking down on perceived foreign influence.

The Kremlin’s new “information security doctrine” comes as attention has focused on the rise in state-sponsored hacking after the US blamed Moscow for cyber attacks aimed at influencing last month’s presidential election.

The document — an update of the country’s last policy from 2000  — details a raft of threats that the Kremlin is worried about, from foreign hacking and negative media coverage abroad to the “erosion of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values”.

The vague plan offers few concrete steps but does set out the general aims of the new policy including bolstering the military’s propaganda output and ratcheting up controls over the internet in Russia.

Over the past few years the Kremlin has increasingly pulled up the drawbridge as ties with the West have plunged to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War over the Ukraine crisis.

Russia has splashed vast sums on state-funded channels and outlets broadcasting Kremlin propaganda across the globe.

Source: AFP