Yahoo TV

Russia has arrested the chief executive of one of the country's most prominent cybersecurity companies, on suspicion of state treason.

That's according to a Moscow court, which says Ilya Sachkov will be held for two months.

Sachkov founded Group IB, a firm which focuses on investigating high-tech crimes and online fraud.

Its global client base includes banks, energy companies, telecoms firms and even Interpol.

Russian law enforcement officers searched the Moscow offices of Group IB on Tuesday (September 28), the company said. Group IB didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

A lawyer for Sachkov could not be reached.

Citing a security source, TASS state news agency said Sachkov was suspected of handing over information to foreign intelligence services, but denies the allegation.

State treason is punishable by up to 20 years in jail. Because of their classified nature, the details of such cases seldom fully come to light.

A number of Russian scientists, soldiers and officials have been charged with treason in recent years after being accused of passing sensitive material to foreign countries.

Group IB said all services were still running as normal, and that client data was safe because of the company's geographically distributed infrastructure.

It said it had no information about why the searches were being conducted.