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Russia
Cyber Security CyberWar DDoS DNS domains Internet Runet Russia

Experts Estimated the Probability of Disconnecting Russia From the Internet

 

On 5th March, a telegram signed by Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Andrei Chernenko was sent to federal executive authorities and subjects of the Russian Federation with a number of recommendations for the protection of information infrastructure of the country. It does not contain direct instructions on disconnecting Russian users from the global network, but a number of experts saw in it indirect preconditions for the isolation of Runet. 

According to the document, by March 11, state websites and services must switch to using DNS servers located in the Russian Federation; remove from HTML page templates all JavaScript code downloaded from foreign resources (banners, counters, and so on); in case of using foreign hosting, switch to Russian; move to the domain zone.ru; complicate the "password policy". 

The Ministry of Finance stated that the sending of telegrams is connected with cyberattacks on Russian websites from abroad. The proposed "set of the simplest recommendations on cyber hygiene" is designed to ensure the availability of web resources of the Russian Federation. "There are no plans to turn off the Internet from the inside," the ministry assured. 
 
Mikhail Klimarev, executive director of the Internet Protection Society, said that the items listed in the telegram are absolutely banal rules of information security, but they may also indicate the preparation of state agencies for any force majeure. He found it difficult to say why the document appeared only now but suggested that this was due to the ongoing cyberwar between Russia and other states. 

"Anonymous hackers, DDoS attacks, attacks on DNS servers - it's really serious, and the Russian authorities really need to worry about how it should work," Klimarev explained. "There's really nothing to worry about, but it's all terrifying. From the outside, it looks like preparation for a sovereign Runet," he added.  

The norm on DNS servers may also indicate preparation for possible shutdowns of the Runet. However, the main logic of the document works to reduce cyberattacks and switch to local root servers to provide access to sites in the Russian domain zone. 

According to experts, disconnecting Russia from the Internet is extremely dangerous for the state, as it carries unpredictable social and financial consequences. 


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VPN
Cyber Security Facebook Instagram Roskomnadzor Runet Russia Telegram Twitter Ukraine VPN

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Users from Russia have Noticed Malfunctions in their Work

 

According to Downdetector, a service for tracking problems in the work of Internet platforms, users from Russia began to complain en masse about the failures of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Problems in social networks began on February 25. Over 80% of users sent complaints about the functioning of the application, another 10% noticed that they could not log in to their profile, and 7% reported problems with the operation of social network sites. 

Recall that on February 25, Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media) partially restricted access to Facebook. On the same day, the Prosecutor General's Office recognized the social network involved in the violation of human rights and freedoms and citizens of Russia. 

On February 26, representatives of Russian media were banned from showing ads and monetization in the social network Facebook. The company took such a step because of the situation around Ukraine. At the same time, Twitter suspended advertising for Russians and Ukrainians, as well as temporarily stopped recommending tweets to avoid the spread of insulting materials. 

In addition, Roskomnadzor restored measures in the form of slowing the speed of Twitter Internet service on devices in Russia in connection with the dissemination of untrustworthy public information about the military operation in Ukraine. 

The agency recalled that since March 10, 2021, Roskomnadzor slowed down Twitter on mobile phones and fixed devices on the territory of the Russian Federation for refusal to delete information that is prohibited in the Russian Federation. On May 17, 2021, after the deletion of more than 91% of the prohibited information by Twitter's moderation services, the restrictions were lifted. 

Roskomnadzor noted that in this situation, the condition for lifting access restrictions "is the complete removal of Twitter of prohibited materials identified by Roskomnadzor, as well as the termination of participation in the information confrontation, distribution of fakes and calls for extremism". 

In the Russian segment of the Internet, you can now often find messages: "If anything, here is my Telegram account...». Since February 25, when Roskomnadzor announced the partial blocking of the Facebook network, almost every Russian user has considered it his duty to notify friends where to look for him now. 

Bloggers and media resources are increasingly posting on their pages posts with recommendations for installing a VPN and other measures to bypass blocking.
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Technology News
Runet Russia Technology Technology News

Facebook, Twitter and Telegram will stop working in Russia due to the weak Runet


Participants of the Zoom conference on the digital future of the country said that the transition to remote work and mass online training became forced testing of Russian Internet services and platforms, most of them failed the tests. The meeting was attended by leading representatives of the Internet industry and experts in digital technology.

It turned out that neither schools nor universities are ready for the online format. "My three children and I experienced the whole "charm" of distance learning: all day we do not so much do tasks as solve technical problems with non-working cameras, communications," said Natalia Kaspersky, President of the Info Watch group of companies.

Ilya Massukh, a member of the software expert Council at the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, expressed the opinion that Russia is not yet ready to replace "live" services with digital ones. He added that the servers of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation fell on April 1. "Even these servers, which are designed for heavy load, did not pass the test."

Recently, Moscow authorities reported that they would monitor the movements of citizens through the introduction of QR codes and even developed a special application for this. According to them, now the introduction of QR codes is necessary to monitor compliance with the self-isolation regime. But experts are confident that when the pandemic ends, it will be necessary to re-introduce personal data protection.

It is interesting to note that the Deputy of the State Duma Anton Gorelkin proposed to prioritize the traffic of domestic sites and services for the time of self-isolation. In case of overload of communication networks due to the transition of citizens to remote work, the quality of access to Facebook, Twitter and Telegram and other services that do not comply with the requirements of Russian law will decrease (Facebook and Twitter do not transfer the data of local users to Russia, and Telegram is blocked for not transmitting the FSB encryption keys). The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and the Federal Antimonopoly Service confirmed receipt of proposals.

Previously, Anton Gorelkin was the author of an initiative to limit the share of foreign capital in significant Internet resources to 20%, which forced Yandex to change the company's management structure.
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Vulnerability
Runet Russian Cyber Security Security News Vulnerabilities and Exploits Vulnerability

Experts have found the most vulnerable places in Runet


Personal accounts of Runet users in various services, including Internet banks, turned out to be the worst protected from hackers. This is the opinion of Positive Technologies specialists.
After analyzing 38 websites of various organizations, including IT companies, government agencies, financial and telecommunications organizations, Positive Technologies employees concluded that nine out of ten web applications in Runet are vulnerable to hacker attacks.

Despite the fact that the situation has improved compared to the previous year, half of the sites contain "high-level" vulnerabilities. In 2019, there were 22 vulnerabilities per application, which is one and a half times lower than in 2018. According to Positive Technologies, the probability that data will leak from applications to the network is 68%, unauthorized access is possible in 39% of cases and authentication system weaknesses were found in 45%.

Also, hackers often hack applications in the banking sector. The protection of apps of credit organizations works only in 40% of cases.

According to experts, this is due to the fact that the dynamics of the main updates of the program is quite high. He noted that the system does not have time to “undergo full training” and automatic configuration.

Applications of government agencies turned out to be the most vulnerable to hacker attacks. Experts stressed that funding for this sector was low. At first, the tenders were won by those who requested the lowest price. And then expenses were reduced even more — by hiring students, for example.
Experts noted that it is quite difficult to protect web applications. Sometimes systems are used in monitoring mode, and real people monitor this. They have to determine whether the attack occurs or not.

“A 24-hour web service requires at least four operators, and this is from five million rubles a year ($78,700),” said Rustem Khairetdinov, vice president of InfoWatch Group. There is no way to hire such a staff of specialists in small companies and regional government agencies.
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Russian Cyber Security
Privacy Roskomnadzor Runet Russia Russian Cyber Security

Roskomnadzor began the installation of equipment for the isolation of the Russian Internet (Runet)


The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roscomnadzor) started testing the equipment for implementation of the law on the isolation of Runet. The pilot project is planned to be completed by mid-October.

According to the head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov, all major mobile operators in Russia have joined the Roskomnadzor project for testing the equipment and now the equipment is being installed.

Zharov said that the experiment will be carried out on the equipment of the manufacturer that has already passed all the tests. Now there is an experiment with two more manufacturers, he added. According to Zharov, among them is company RDP.ru. It is interesting to note that the development of the company RDP.ru was recognized as the most effective in the tests of blocking the Telegram messenger.

"We will be testing it for several weeks from the end of September," Zharov said. According to him, the experiment will not be conducted in all of Russia, but testing will take place in one of the regions. The name of the region was not disclosed.

The head of the Service said that they would tell about the results of the experiment in mid-October, but so far he cannot disclose all the details.

"My reluctance to speak is due solely to information security issues," he stressed.
Also, during the conversation with journalists Zharov said that the creation of a Center for monitoring and managing a public communications network is proceeding as planned.

In November, the law on the isolation of the Runet, adopted in the spring, will come into force. According to the document, Roskomnadzor will be able to control all data transmission points abroad and traffic routing using special equipment. Although the law will enter into force in November, Roskomnadzor began to prepare in advance the rules for its application.

Recall that on May 1, Vladimir Putin signed a law on the isolation of the Runet. According to this law, Roskomnadzor assumes all the authority for managing networks in case of threats to the Russian Internet. In addition, Roskomnadzor has the right to directly block websites with prohibited information.

The Kremlin called the document a precautionary measure. Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko stressed that the authorities do not intend to restrict Internet access to Russians.
The Ministry of Сommunications has identified a list of threats in which the Runet can go into a centralized control mode. In particular, when there are threats to integrity (when it is impossible to establish a connection between users), stability (when part of the equipment fails or natural or man-made disasters occur) and security (when someone tries to break into the equipment of providers or has a “destabilizing internal or external information impact” on communication network).

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