Criminal Code Article 272, Unauthorized Access to Computer Information
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 272 (No. 63-FZ, 1996)
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access computer information protected by Russian law without authorization in a way that destroys, blocks, modifies, or copies it, under Criminal Code Article 272; a version of this offense committed for gain, by a group, or causing grave consequences carries escalating fines up to 500,000 rubles and imprisonment up to 7 years.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Unauthorized access causing destruction, blocking, modification, or copying of protected computer information: base offense punishable by a fine up to 200,000 rubles (or income for up to 18 months), corrective labor up to 1 year, restriction of freedom up to 2 years, forced labor up to 2 years, or imprisonment up to 2 years. The same act causing significant damage or committed for mercenary gain: fine of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles (or income for 1 to 2 years), corrective labor 1 to 2 years, restriction of freedom up to 4 years, forced labor up to 4 years, or imprisonment up to 4 years. Committed by a group by prior conspiracy, an organized group, or using an official position: fine up to 500,000 rubles (or income for up to 3 years) with disqualification up to 3 years, restriction of freedom up to 4 years, forced labor up to 5 years, or imprisonment up to 5 years. Any of the above causing grave consequences or the threat of them: imprisonment up to 7 years.
Penalty structure
The four tiers of Criminal Code Article 272 escalate from a fine up to 200,000 rubles (base offense) through 100,000-300,000 rubles (significant damage or mercenary motive), up to 500,000 rubles (group, organized group, or official position, also carrying imprisonment up to 5 years), to imprisonment up to 7 years with no separate fine specified for the grave-consequences tier.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- RUB
- Fixed cap
- 500,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Access restriction
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 272 criminalizes unauthorized access to legally protected computer information where the act causes destruction, blocking, modification, or copying of that information, with four escalating penalty tiers keyed to significant damage or mercenary motive, commission by a group or through an official position, and grave consequences.
The article, as currently in force, dates its main structure to Federal Law No. 420-FZ of 7 December 2011 and was most recently amended by Federal Law No. 421-FZ of 30 November 2024, which excepted conduct already covered by the newer Article 272.1 on unlawful handling of personal data.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_web
Read the law
Consultant.ru, codified text of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 272