Cyber resilience and artificial intelligence at the IT Elements conference in Moscow

The fourth IT Elements conference, held in Moscow on September 9-10, addressed business continuity amid cyberattacks and infrastructure disruptions, as well as artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centers. More than 3,000 experts from banking, industry, telecommunications and other sectors attended the event.

IT Elements highlights business continuity against cyberattacks in Moscow

Business continuity amid cyberthreats and infrastructure disruptions was a key focus of the IT Elements conference held in Moscow, Russia's capital. More than 3,000 experts from banking, industry, telecommunications and other sectors attended the fourth conference on September 9-10.

Hundreds of information technology and information security experts shared their experience with system migrations, countering cyberattacks and restructuring IT architectures. More than 30 technology companies, including VK Tech, Astra Group, SberTech, Positive Technologies, Orion Soft and Jet Infosystems, took part in the exhibition.

Resilience against cyberattacks

The opening session addressed the continuation of operations during cyberattacks, system outages and infrastructure threats. Executives from Gazprombank, Alrosa, VEB.RF and LUKOIL-Inter-Card assessed backup systems resistant to ransomware, the two-sided impact of artificial intelligence and the division of responsibilities between IT and information security managers.

Andrey Yankin, head of information security, said resilience could not be reduced to a particular technology or spare capacity. According to Yankin, the key capability is the ability to move quickly from normal operations to attack or disaster management and then to recovery.

Dmitry Nazipov, director of information technology at Gazprombank, recommended keeping clean copies of critical systems in a third center isolated as much as possible from the main infrastructure in case it is compromised. Yaroslav Napadiy of LUKOIL-Inter-Card said backup copies alone were not sufficient, adding that components had to be activated and synchronized in the correct order during recovery.

Data center capacity for artificial intelligence

The second day's “Infrastructure 2030” session examined resilient architectures amid distributed applications, new workloads and technological change. Discussions covered different stages of business continuity, from architectural design and automation to recovery processes following component failures.

According to research by Jet Infosystems, 86% of Russian companies use large language models or are conducting pilot projects. Some 53% of companies have put generative artificial intelligence into operational use. The conference emphasized the need for high-quality data for the effective use of artificial intelligence, while also examining AI agents in human resources and accounting, production systems and nuclear energy security applications.

According to research by Jet Infosystems and the CNews Analytics Center, more than 30% of participants have a network segment dedicated to artificial intelligence. About 15% plan to establish such a segment. Speakers said customers were demanding up to 200 kilowatts per rack, adding that energy and cooling capacity directly affected the capabilities and cost of AI infrastructure.

Ransomware and IT budgets

Ransomware attacks were also among the main topics of the cybersecurity sessions. According to data from Jet Infosystems' Incident Response and Monitoring Center, such attacks accounted for 69% of verified incidents in the first half of 2026.

Data from the same company showed that IT budgets increased at 44% of organizations in the second half of 2026. At the same time, resources are being directed toward priorities that make a more tangible contribution to the business.

Skills sought in IT

The section devoted to the workplace noted rising demand for systemic skills in IT and information security. Participants said employees were expected to develop comprehensive IT solutions while taking the business context into account and to work across different disciplines.

Speakers also said artificial intelligence was taking over some of the routine tasks performed by entry-level employees. While this was making career paths less linear, critical thinking and the ability to assess the results produced by AI models were highlighted among the key skills.