Kazakhstan Security Agency Says 125 Charged in 2007 with Secret Divulging

Kazakhstan's National Security Committee said yesterday that 125 officials had been charged in the country in 2007 with divulging official secrets but that the state had improved its secret protection system, news agency Interfax reports.

National Security Committee spokesman Kenzhebulat Beknazarov, who cited the figure at a news conference in Astana, said official secrets were under securer protection today. "Modern information security technologies have been introduced, and measures to ensure the information security of the 'electronic government' have been implemented," Beknazarov said.

A facility has been set up where government agencies have their information security tested via simulated Internet attacks, and dozens of cipher keys have been developed in a bid to protect government communications networks, Interfax is quoting the spokesman. Eleven cities have been supplied with more efficient government communications equipment. More than 300 units to which access is limited have been inspected and potential channels of information leaks have been closed, Beknazarov said.

"Work has been launched to build a national system for the prevention of cyber crime," the spokesman said. In 2007, "16 attempts at the illegal sale of specialized technical equipment have been cut short, and more than 180 products of this kind have been seized," he said.