Typical Situational-version Features of the Initial Stage of Investigating Unlawful Impact on Critical Information Infrastructure: Criminal Law and Criminalistic Aspects

The authors examine the questions of ensuring national security on the basis of incorporating modern trends of the digitization of society into the classical approach when investigating criminal cases connected with unlawful impact on critical information infrastructure. Using the situational approach, clauses of criminal legislation and the theory of crime qualification, the authors determine the circumstances included in the subject of proof for the criminal cases of unlawful influence on critical information infrastructure, which serves as a foundation for building general and specific criminalistic versions, and is also the basic scheme for making plans during the preliminary investigation. The authors conclude that, in order to obtain a realistic picture, it is necessary and unavoidable that an aggregate of official criminalistic techniques and scientific approaches should be used to study criminal activities in the sphere of information systems. They stress the necessity of studying and incorporating various data of criminal law research into modern investigative practice. The dominant features of the initial stage are identified, which make it possible to formulate its key tasks. The description of the tasks at this stage predetermines its key functions — the search and cognitive work of investigators and the subjects of investigation they interact with, the use of expert knowledge, the leading role of investigative, operative search versions and expert versions. The specific character of information and search for it predetermine the dominance of search, communicative and experimental investigative actions in the structure of the investigation. The analysis of the specific features of carrying out procedural and other actions at the initial stage of investigation allowed the authors to make conclusions about the importance of using tactical complexes in the investigation. They specify a complex of criminalistic recommendations of technical, tactical and methodological character to be implemented in the practice of crime investigation with the purpose of optimizing the counteraction to unlawful impact on critical information infrastructure.