Russia's 'Nonsensical, Impossible Quest' to Create Its Own Domestic Internet (slate.com) 61
"It was pretty strange when Russia decided to announce last week that it had successfully run tests between June 15 and July 15 to show it could disconnect itself from the internet," writes an associate professor of cybersecurity policy at Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
The tests seem to have gone largely unnoticed both in and outside of Russia, indicating that whatever entailed did not involve Russia actually disconnecting from the global internet... since that would be impossible to hide. Instead, the tests — and, most of all, the announcement about their success — seem to be intended as some kind of signal that Russia is no longer dependent on the rest of the world for its internet access. But it's not at all clear what that would even mean since Russia is clearly still dependent on people and companies in other countries for access to the online content and services they create and host — just as we all are...
For the past two years, ever since implementing its "sovereign internet law" in 2019, Russia has been talking about establishing its own domestic internet that does not rely on any infrastructure or resources located outside the country. Presumably, the tests completed this summer are related to that goal of being able to operate a local internet within Russia that does not rely on the global Domain Name System to map websites to specific IP addresses. This is not actually a particularly ambitious goal — any country could operate its own domestic internet with its own local addressing system if it wanted to do so instead of connecting to the larger global internet... The Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis at the University of California San Diego maintains an Internet Outage Detection and Analysis tool that combines three data sets to identify internet outages around the world... The data sets for Russia from June 15 through July 15, the period of the supposed disconnection tests, shows few indications of any actual disconnection other than a period around July 5 when unsolicited traffic from Russia appears to have dropped off.
Whatever Russia did this summer, it did not physically disconnect from the global internet. It doesn't even appear to have virtually disconnected from the global internet in any meaningful sense. Perhaps it shifted some of its critical infrastructure systems to rely more on domestic service providers and resources. Perhaps it created more local copies of the addressing system used to navigate the internet and tested its ability to rely on those. Perhaps it tested its ability to route online traffic within the country through certain chokepoints for purposes of better surveillance and monitoring. None of those are activities that would be immediately visible from outside the country and all of them would be in line with Russia's stated goals of relying less on internet infrastructure outside its borders and strengthening its ability to monitor online activity.
But the goal of being completely independent of the rest of the world's internet infrastructure while still being able to access the global internet is a nonsensical and impossible one. Russia cannot both disconnect from the internet and still be able to use all of the online services and access all of the websites hosted and maintained by people in other parts of the world, as appears to have been the case during the monthlong period of testing... Being able to disconnect your country from the internet is not all that difficult — and certainly nothing to brag about. But announcing that you've successfully disconnected from the internet when it's patently clear that you haven't suggests both profound technical incompetence and a deep-seated uncertainty about what a domestic Russian internet would actually mean.
For the past two years, ever since implementing its "sovereign internet law" in 2019, Russia has been talking about establishing its own domestic internet that does not rely on any infrastructure or resources located outside the country. Presumably, the tests completed this summer are related to that goal of being able to operate a local internet within Russia that does not rely on the global Domain Name System to map websites to specific IP addresses. This is not actually a particularly ambitious goal — any country could operate its own domestic internet with its own local addressing system if it wanted to do so instead of connecting to the larger global internet... The Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis at the University of California San Diego maintains an Internet Outage Detection and Analysis tool that combines three data sets to identify internet outages around the world... The data sets for Russia from June 15 through July 15, the period of the supposed disconnection tests, shows few indications of any actual disconnection other than a period around July 5 when unsolicited traffic from Russia appears to have dropped off.
Whatever Russia did this summer, it did not physically disconnect from the global internet. It doesn't even appear to have virtually disconnected from the global internet in any meaningful sense. Perhaps it shifted some of its critical infrastructure systems to rely more on domestic service providers and resources. Perhaps it created more local copies of the addressing system used to navigate the internet and tested its ability to rely on those. Perhaps it tested its ability to route online traffic within the country through certain chokepoints for purposes of better surveillance and monitoring. None of those are activities that would be immediately visible from outside the country and all of them would be in line with Russia's stated goals of relying less on internet infrastructure outside its borders and strengthening its ability to monitor online activity.
But the goal of being completely independent of the rest of the world's internet infrastructure while still being able to access the global internet is a nonsensical and impossible one. Russia cannot both disconnect from the internet and still be able to use all of the online services and access all of the websites hosted and maintained by people in other parts of the world, as appears to have been the case during the monthlong period of testing... Being able to disconnect your country from the internet is not all that difficult — and certainly nothing to brag about. But announcing that you've successfully disconnected from the internet when it's patently clear that you haven't suggests both profound technical incompetence and a deep-seated uncertainty about what a domestic Russian internet would actually mean.
We are a threat! no really! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Or is this story possibly about a response to Biden's threats of cyber-retaliation?
So has anyone seen a serious cyber-vulnerability assessment for Russia? How much does Putin have to lose? If most of the Russian economy is still based on "stone knives and bearskins", then there'd be little reason for the Russians to worry about cyber war.
The best vulnerability assessment I've read was from 2010, in Cyber War by Richard Clarke. Surely there are newer books with fresher data since then? Perhaps the librarie
Re:We are a threat! no really! (Score:4, Funny)
"It was pretty strange when Russia decided to announce last week that it had successfully run tests between June 15 and July 15 to show it could disconnect itself from the internet," writes an associate professor of cybersecurity policy at Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Shit, my eighty-year-old mother does that at least once a month requiring lengthy phone triage each time ("Is the box with the lights on it plugged in?"), why is it newsworthy when Russia does it?
Well there goes Earth's chances... (Score:2)
... for a seat on the Galactic Council. :(
Disconnect from the internet eh? (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope they kept those POTS line in working order - and Soviet era telex machines, and fax machines too - because conducting routine business with companies abroad is about to get really, really slow.
Re: (Score:2)
Impossible to hide Russia dissconnect (Score:5, Insightful)
The tests seem to have gone largely unnoticed both in and outside of Russia, indicating that whatever entailed did not involve Russia actually disconnecting from the global internet... since that would be impossible to hide.
I think we would have noticed the drop in ransomware incidents ... :-)
Also, Russia better be careful about they wish for.
If they disconnect themselves from the Internet, who will their cyber thieves prey on then?
Re: (Score:3)
> who will their cyber thieves prey on then?
Oh, you misunderstand! Some internet servers are more equal than others.
"You've got... (Score:2)
..the KGB on your doorstep!"
Re: Impossible to hide Russia dissconnect (Score:2)
State actors will be doing all the cyberattacks for now on.
Re: (Score:1)
You people, such shallow thinkers. Russia's own internet. Simply do different encrypted protocols, easiest switch imaginable, redirect DNS calls to domestic servers and flip what ever switches to cut what ever cables, figuratively speaking. The rest of the internet or sections there of go online or new internet network goes online, encrypted, different protocols, nothing comes onto or from it, to rest of internet.
Makes sense, EMP pulse hits can make a real mess of internet, so easier to disconnect for a ti
Insular internet. (Score:3)
Oh a domestic internet is easy. Just ask the Chinese, North Korea, and Cuba.
Re: (Score:3)
Or any large company Intranet.
Re: (Score:1)
Before retirement my company touted that it was the 2d largest network in the US.
Wonder how that compares to some countries?
Re: (Score:1)
Which is exactly why you prepare before hand, kind of logical. Other countries are blindly exposing themselves to total control by tech corporations. Who controls you countries tech infrastructure, corporations or government, who controls the tech infrastructure of your government, government agencies or contracted corporations.
Why the blind faith in corporations, Public Relations Corporations and Marketing. You know exactly who to trust less than you government, private for profit corporations, they do an
Ok then (Score:5, Insightful)
the goal of being completely independent of the rest of the world's internet infrastructure while still being able to access the global internet is a nonsensical and impossible one.
It's not only perfectly possible, it's how "the internet" works... it's a bunch of Autonomous Systems which have peering points where they exchange traffic and BGP routes.
I suspect that what Russia is trying to do is make sure all traffic has to flow through peering locations they physically control, and to provide "top level" services for things like IP addressing, DNS, and certificate authorities. This then gives them the ability to "wall off" or allow traffic to pass-through however they see fit, and hijack/replace external services when desired.
Re: (Score:2)
Or it could be that whomever was entrusted with the initiative in Russia decided to declare victory to keep Putin's goons from prowling around.
Re: (Score:2)
Kind of runs counter to the whole "built to survive a nuclear war" mythos though. Connect those peering points to a command and control and it could be real time.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
That has gone out the window a long, long while ago. The idea that the internet has self-healing capacity to reroute failing nodes is an idea that died when it became commercial and redundancy was a cost factor nobody wanted to pay for.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Slashdot, YouTube, Pornhub, etc. - all the things we think of as "the internet" - are not Russian companies and have little or no physical presence there.
Believe it or not, Russia has their own equivalents of these services.
Re: Ok then (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Slashdot, YouTube, Pornhub, etc. - all the things we think of as "the internet" - are not Russian companies and have little or no physical presence there.
Believe it or not, Russia has their own equivalents of these services.
But does the Russian Slashdot have a guy who constantly posts about how much he hates the modern Russian internet?
Re:Ok then (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like something you'd do before starting a war. Kinda like shoring up your borders and weak points of access, be in physical or virtual.
Re: (Score:1)
"But announcing that you've successfully disconnected from the internet when it's patently clear that you haven't"
When did Russia announce this? You can read the actual report here: https://www.rbc.ru/technology_... [www.rbc.ru] which doesn't claim anything like that.
Here is an English translation, since you are too much of a lazy asshole to do it yourself.
July 21, 2021
In June-July, another exercise on the stability of the Runet took place, this time the possibility of working in conditions of the physical disconnection of the Russian segment from the global network was tested. According to preliminary data, the exercises were successful
From June 15 to July 15, exercises were held to ensure the stable, safe and integral functioning of the Internet, indicated in the mate
Re: (Score:2)
They never have. This is the same kind of a Western propaganda spin as the "Crimean people voting on their annexation to Russia had over 120% voter participation". It's a bold faced lie based on the reality that most of the target audience of said propaganda can't understand Russian, and can therefore be shown fake translation, where ~80% can be translated into ~120%, or "testing of possibility of disconnecting from internet" becomes "they claimed to have disconnected from the internet".
It's nothing new. Th
Re: (Score:2)
Bold words for a Chinese troll who has demonstrated to be so awful at all those things he mentions, that he must've brought great shame to his parents after they saw his gaokao results.
Great Firewall of China anyone? (Score:1)
Hopefully they don't reuse IP addresses (Score:3)
because if they do IP addresses will no longer be unique and this could cause havoc. [192.168.0.0/16, etc excepted]. So if they want to provide their own DNS servers, firewall off all non Russian DNS requests [drop port 53] and drop access to IP addresses deemed bad/not-acceptable thus selectively make parts of the Internet disappear -- well, that is up to them. Some Russians will not like it, most will realise that they cannot do anything about it, shrug their shoulders & get on with life.
I expect that other authoritarian regimens will do similar: China already is.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry, they're sticking to addresses in the 127.x.x.x range.
Clearly, it's about control (Score:3)
Convince me I'm wrong (Score:2)
30 years ago I remember educated Moscovites arguing is Russia belonged to the "west'" or the "east'.
Russia belongs to the "west", and Russia's last enlightened leader was Peter the Great.
Convince I'm wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
That's nothing new. Russia is a European nation. Their Asian expansion is a fairly recent phenomenon overall. Their cultural capitals are all European. Their elites fundamentally want to be a part of Europe, not Asia, which looks utterly alien to them.
Re: (Score:1)
When Ivan took Kazan he set the stage for permanently removing the terror of the Golden Horde. Relentlessly the Russians pushed eastward destroying the Turkic and Tatar whilst building an empire. Those piles of skulls the Horde left at Kiev to remind the Russians of how nasty they were left a lasting effect.
They didn't want to become an Asian nation but rather control those people and prevent another from forming.
Safeguarding their own segment (Score:1)
All of it is just securing their own segment. In case some random sanctions or something come from outside people could find they turn on their computer and it has NO internet, as in no communication at all.
This way there are safeguards in place (local servers and infrastructure that is not critically dependent on outside world) in case there are external efforts to shut down internet in Russia in general, your average user will simply be limited to what is available in the Russian segment of the internet.
Which side of the split ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Russia should firewall and this is why (Score:3)
Samizdat in modern forms will flourish to route around censorship but less Russian interaction with the world is a good that economically damages Russian militarism threatening eastern Europe. It damages Politburo credibility and creates additional pressure on underpaid skilled people to leave for a West which needs workers!
That's all good news. The NeoSoviets are free to do (again) what their predecessors did before them while China did the opposite and won bigly.
worldwide internet is suicidal (Score:1)
talk about leaving your doors open.
eventually, i think we're ALL going to move to nation based internets or at least internets based on alliances. why in the world would you allow the possibility of hostile foreign actors to sabotage and/or social engineer and foment dissent on your door step?
we've tried "bringing the world together" and we've discovered that at the end of the day, despite early hopes, it's a REALLY BAD FUCKING THING. at the very least, it's extremely dangerous.
even if the russian episode i
Re: (Score:2)
This is my current belief as well. The authoritarian governments are just a step ahead, making the internet a one-directional weapon until the others catch up.
Disconnect Russian and China, please (Score:1)
Murderous dictators, doing their best to destabilize the free world, should not even be allowed to connect to the free world.
Re: (Score:2)
What? Impossible? No. (Score:2)
Maybe SIPRNet isn't as secure as the USA thinks?
ROL (Score:1)
Russia On Line This is where they are headed. Only the mods put you in the gulag instead of just banning your account while continuing to deluge you with free trial CDs
Why is that nonsensical? (Score:1)
Come on! There have been threats to block Russian internet access. There have been numerous cases of US agencies controlling traffic on global scale and you don't count on getting Internet access via China. So they don't want the country infrastructure to stop working in case of a conflict. It's something that's rather hard to fix so it's ok to start earlier.
What they are trying to do is make sure government web services will continue working, financial institutions, search engines all continue to be access
makes sense (Score:2)
Given the amount of cold war style propaganda running against Russia for the past years, they would be idiots to not assume that it may be possible that the West cuts them off, and they should prepare for having at least the Russian part of the Internet still working if that happens.
If it means (Score:1)
If it means that their efforts at meddling in elections and spreading general discord, such as with covid misinformation, will be contained to within the bounds of their own "Internet" I say, "How can we help?" I think a lot of former Soviet Bloc countries would probably be willing to help in any way possible, not just the US.