On March 11, Russia may plunge into digital darkness

Baku/08.03.22/Turan: On March 7, the American financial company Market Rebellion announced that Russia would be disconnected from the global Internet on March 11 as punishment for aggression against Ukraine. The company also clarified that after this date, only sites with servers located in Russia will be available to Russians.

Nobody checked the message from the American company, and there was no confirmation from government agencies. However, news of the upcoming boycott made headlines around the world. Indirectly, the veracity of the message was confirmed by the state Russian organization - the Ministry of Digital Development.

On March 11, Russian users will switch to using the Russian domain name system, abandon foreign hosting and site traffic counters, and strengthen the “password policy”. “Russian websites are constantly being attacked by cyberattacks from abroad. We are preparing for different scenarios to ensure the availability of Russian resources. There are no plans to turn off the Internet from the inside,” the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation said.

Russia will descend into digital obscurity,  commented on “Dozhd” which is  banned in Russia, and which published the opinion of an expert from “Roskomsvoboda.”

Technically, it is possible to disable all points of delimited transmission and this will all end, there will be no global Internet in Russia, the expert writes.

“The entire Russian economy is tied to the global network; its shutdown is a much worse blow than the sanctions that are now being introduced and are already affecting the economy. Now the only thing that can be done is to download as many tools as possible that will help you stay online as long as there is at least one channel of communication with the outside world. For example, you can use applications such as Psiphon or the Tor browser. But, of course, if communication with the outside world is completely broken, then you will either have to communicate with the help of pigeons, or look for some other ways that are not related to the global Internet.

The likelihood of such an outcome in the current situation cannot be denied... In case the situation worsens, we will face a big shutdown and disconnection from the global network. It is not clear what will happen first: we will be turned off from the outside, or it will be a shutdown from the inside. We are now in an unenviable situation and a lot depends on how the situation [in Ukraine] will unfold in the future,” the “Dozhd” expert said.

We add that, according to the same Market Rebellion, in March 2019, Russia conducted tests during which it disconnected from the rest of the world, but retained the Internet for its citizens. These were exercises on the “isolation” of the Runet. The authorities have worked out several scenarios - to ensure the safety of mobile subscribers, the protection of their personal data and the possibility of intercepting traffic, as well as to study the vulnerabilities of "smart" devices.

Judging by the remarks of experts published after the announcement of the shutdown on March 11, the exercises held three years ago did not give Russia anything.—0—