According to specialists contacted by Izvestia, the arrest of Group-IB founder and CEO Ilya Sachkov would have no effect on the company’s operations or the Russian information security industry.
The Group-IB headquarters was raided on September 28, and the businessman was imprisoned for two months the following day by a court. He risks up to 20 years in prison, and if the matter gets to trial, acquittals under the treason article are uncommon, according to attorneys.
Izvestia questioned information security industry participants who remained tight-lipped about Group-predicament. IB’s However, according to one widely circulated account, Group-difficulties IB’s may have arisen as a result of its workers’ too intimate connections with Western special services.
According to another account, Sachkov’s arrest was motivated by the questioning of Russian hacker Pavel Sitnikov. According to the hacker’s spokesperson, Sitnikov frequently criticized the actions of Group-IB and its creator, as well as collecting compromising material on him.
Group-IB is a noteworthy business in terms of public relations, and it is actively engaged in the media, but it cannot be considered systemically important for the information security industry, according to one of its players.
Another market source predicted that Sachkov’s position would have little impact on the company’s operations. According to the source, if Sachkov is convicted, the business would likely attempt to disassociate itself from him.
Sergey Polovnikov, head of the Content-Review project, thinks that the Group-IB issue will have little impact on the Russian information security industry in general.
“It is not apparent why Russian developers should have any difficulties if consumers cooperate with Western businesses even after their links with special services become known,” he told the publication.
