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The Internet

Internet Backbone Giant Lumen Cuts Service To Russia (krebsonsecurity.com) 105

Posted by BeauHD from the increased-isolation dept.
Lumen Technologies, an American company that operates one of the largest Internet backbones and carries a significant percentage of the world's Internet traffic, said today it will stop routing traffic for organizations based in Russia. KrebsOnSecurity reports: Lumen's decision comes just days after a similar exit by backbone provider Cogent, and amid a news media crackdown in Russia that has already left millions of Russians in the dark about what is really going on with their president's war in Ukraine. Monroe, La. based Lumen (formerly CenturyLink) initially said it would halt all new business with organizations based in Russia, leaving open the possibility of continuing to serve existing clients there. But on Tuesday the company said it could no longer justify that stance.

"Life has taken a turn in Russia and Lumen is unable to continue to operate in this market," Lumen said in a published statement. "The business services we provide are extremely small and very limited as is our physical presence. However, we are taking steps to immediately stop business in the region." "We decided to disconnect the network due to increased security risk inside Russia," the statement continues. "We have not yet experienced network disruptions but given the increasingly uncertain environment and the heightened risk of state action, we took this move to ensure the security of our and our customers' networks, as well as the ongoing integrity of the global Internet." According to Internet infrastructure monitoring firm Kentik, Lumen is the top international transit provider to Russia, with customers including Russian telecom giants Rostelecom and TTK, as well as all three major mobile operators (MTS, Megafon and VEON).
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Internet Backbone Giant Lumen Cuts Service To Russia More

Internet Backbone Giant Lumen Cuts Service To Russia

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  • Is keeping more Russians in the dark the best idea? At least with internet access the citizens in Russia stand a chance of learning that vlad is invading Ukraine and not buy into the propaganda.

    I understand why Cogent, Lumen and everyone else is cutting off Russia, but in terms of cutting of communications it will make it easier for vlad to control the message which may not be the best thing.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Why *The* Ukraine? It has been an independent country since 1991.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Ya, I have the same difficulty trying to mover over to Ukrainian spellings (Kiev -> Kyiv, Kharkov -> Kharkiv, Odessa -> Odesa)
            But I'm trying. Apologies to any Ukrainians I may accidentally insult by using Russian names for your cities.
        • I thought thats how it translates. I know people there and when they translate to english they add The to it. I try to use their wording since Im not native to their region. It does make it sound a tad more regal to me.
          • It doesn't translate anymore... When it was The Ukrainian SSR, or The Ukraine (region), The was appropriate. Now that it's the name of their country, a proper noun, "The" doesn't make any sense, and they don't like it, so we shouldn't use it. That being said, it's not confusing anymore, just willfully using it is disrespectful. It's like deadnaming someone.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Malc ( 1751 )

            There's a good write-up about the whole thing in this Wikipedia article:
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

            It's interesting also that this change in terminology is very much focused on anglophone media and countries. My colleagues in Germany still refer to the capital as "Kiew", which is the Russian name, and they haven't heard of this campaign to recognise Ukraine's sovereignty, culture and identity.

            After a lifetime of using the Soviet era terminology, it's admittedly a hard change to make, but it does help

        • Ukrainian and Russian and other Slavic languages do not have a word for "the" or "a/an". Consequently, when folks of that language group speak English, they insert "the"s where they don't belong, and omit them where they do.

          No doubt, sometime in the dim past, some official of either the USSR or Russia or Ukraine, stated that the name of the country was "The" Ukraine, because he was not an excellent student of the English Language.

          BTW, why is it "the USSR", and not just "USSR"? Same reasoning.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tragedy ( 27079 )

        Do you really think any significant number of Russians are flocking to Western media to try to find out what's going on in the Ukraine?

        Apparently the majority of younger Russians do not get their news from Russian state media and actually do get it from international sources on the Internet. Joe Vodka is typically older.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Mitreya ( 579078 )

        Russians are flocking to Western media

        Probably not, as you say. But they may be learning things from people located in Ukraine or from Ukrainians who happen to be located in the West.

      • The russian people aren't going to be told "western companies are refusing to provide services because we invaded ukraine".
        The russian people will be told "the west is controlled by nazis who are hell bent on destroying russia and exterminating the russian people, shutting down services is just the first part of their plan".

        The average russian is going to blame the west for the disruption, and it will only serve to increase support for putin.

        Look at ukraine for an example, the ukrainian people are faced with an existential threat so that makes them fight so much harder. Putin's propaganda will convince russians that the west is an existential threat to them.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

            It might sound inconceivable to you, but I acquire my news from various sources, including from news agencies based in countries that are supposedly my "enemies". I then propagate what I learned from reading multiple viewpoints to my friends, family, and of course discussion forums like this one. Those people include plenty of ordinary Americans, most of whom don't care enough to examine the facts for themselves.

            I refuse to believe there aren't any Russians doing the same. Their activities would be hampered

            • Dictators, and indeed all opponents of free speech, are afraid of the internet because ordinary people might learn something that contradicts the prevailing narrative. This is why you see Russia, China or Iran banning western websites. To aid them in that endeavor is at best foolish and at worst traitorous.

              Dictators aren't afraid of shit. I hate it when people say that.
              Is free speech fucking annoying to them? Ya, sure as hell is.

              Anyway, that aside.
              The fact that blocking something helps their cause, does not imply that not blocking it helps yours.

              We have consistently last the propaganda game.
              We're on to a new tactic: Get the people to get rid of their shithead dictator.

              It's the best idea anyone has had in a long time to confront that jackass.

              And one last thing- don't misuse the word traitorous. I th

            • Comment removed based on user account deletion

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

                Now, stop acting as if I'm claiming nobody reads non-Russian media in Russia, and start actually addressing the point, which is that too few actually do for it to make the slightest difference.

                How do you know it's too few? You're simply asserting it with no proof.

                It only takes a few Russian expats to translate news for them to be readable to the vast majority of Russians. The Bolshevik Revolution occurred at a time when the literacy rate was 24%, and those who could read The Communist Manifesto (written in German) was nearly non-existent.

                When you look at countries that have been cut off from the world, such as North Korea, Cuba or Iraq, their dictators gained support after sanctions were placed.

    • Is keeping more Russians in the dark the best idea?

      Worked last time.

      At least with internet access the citizens in Russia stand a chance of learning that vlad is invading Ukraine and not buy into the propaganda.

      Hypothetically, I would agree with you.
      Unfortunately reality has fucked us in the ass in this instance, as we have learned in the last few years that the average person is wildly susceptible to even half-assed propaganda, as long as it aligns with their belief system.

      I understand why Cogent, Lumen and everyone else is cutting off Russia, but in terms of cutting of communications it will make it easier for vlad to control the message which may not be the best thing.

      I think you underestimate Vlad's ability to co-opt those communications mediums to make his propaganda just that much more pervasive.

      I mean, I think I feel where you're coming from, and I think it's somewhere close to where

      • this is about media sure but, governments are about services. they are cutting the lines to the core of the internet. so it can be said that the us is a major service provider. maybe net neutrality was a good idea then and i'm sure legislation covering situations like this would have followed some time ago.

        • this is about media sure but, governments are about services.

          Don't really know what you mean.

          they are cutting the lines to the core of the internet.

          That's not really how it works. Luman and Cogent were 2 transit providers for some Russian ISPs.
          I have 12 transit providers. One imagines that all Russian ISPs combined have more than me.

          All that's been done is a few xconns have been disco'd. It's not like the world has made the collective decision to block prefixes originating from Russian ASNs. Though, frankly, sign me up.

          so it can be said that the us is a major service provider.

          It can be said that several major worldwide transit providers are US-based companies.
          There are also

    • I wonder how much of the divestment is due to Russia's international aggression and how much is Russians' [in]ability to pay.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Bert64 ( 520050 )

      Yes russians losing internet access significantly reduces their chances of seeing any news sources not controlled by the russian government.

      Not only that, but the connection has been severed by a western company and not by the russian government itself, so it becomes much easier for russian media to blame the west for this.

      • Yes russians losing internet access significantly reduces their chances of seeing any news sources not controlled by the russian government.

        It also cuts them off from the greatest propaganda megaphones ever fucking invented, tools that we have demonstrated repeatedly, that we cannot manipulate as skillfully as the Russians.

        It's a fair argument to wonder which is more effective, but pretending that there's no possible benefit is silly.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Bert64 ( 520050 )

          Cutting commercial internet services will not have any effect on the ability of the russian government to spread propaganda abroad.
          They will use links through china, or will stage their activities from other countries etc.
          Cutting off visible commercial services will just hurt the average russian citizen.

    • ToR was invented by a naval officer precisely to be distributed and dropped into a country of unrest. Obviously russia will still have an internet of Russian connections. Drop in the latest version of ToR thats tweaked not as the darknet but for rebellion. The outside info will be fed to russian citizens via ToR.

    • Is keeping more Russians in the dark the best idea? At least with internet access the citizens in Russia stand a chance of learning that vlad is invading Ukraine and not buy into the propaganda.

      I understand why Cogent, Lumen and everyone else is cutting off Russia, but in terms of cutting of communications it will make it easier for vlad to control the message which may not be the best thing.

      No internet is actually better than the shit their government feeds them. No internet may even make them question.

    • Brandolini's law [wikipedia.org] can tell you why this is irrelevant. We often hear about the best way to counter fake news is with facts, but the amazing asymmetry in effort means that we can't even counteract the most minor of bullshit as we've seen in the past few years.

      There's no hope in heck that information from the internet can counter Russian war propaganda efforts. We couldn't even stop a few minor anti-vax morons let alone an organised government funded movement.

      And that's before you get into patriotism. "My gove

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by djinn6 ( 1868030 )

        60% of the US is vaccinated. No matter which side you're on, approximately half of the population believed your facts (or propaganda) and the other half didn't. When there is free flow of information, the minority opinion gets disproportionate exposure, which makes it harder to achieve consensus. However, that's not a bad thing. You don't need 99% agreement to get things done. 60% is plenty. And specifically in case of Russia, if 40% of Russians disagreed with Putin, he would have a much harder time doing a

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by necro81 ( 917438 )

          60% of the US is vaccinated. No matter which side you're on, approximately half of the population believed your facts (or propaganda) and the other half didn't. When there is free flow of information, the minority opinion gets disproportionate exposure, which makes it harder to achieve consensus. However, that's not a bad thing. You don't need 99% agreement to get things done. 60% is plenty.

          Except in epidemiology. 60% immunity (either vaccinated or acquired through infection) just ain't good enough.

          An

        • 60% of the US is vaccinated. No matter which side you're on, approximately half of the population believed your facts (or propaganda) and the other half didn't.

          You're speaking perfectly to my point. 40% of the information available does not speak against vaccination, yet 40% of the people aren't vaccinated, and when you asked them about it you get the most stupid and easily verifiable as false bullshit excuses you'll have ever heard.

          You don't need 99% agreement to get things done. 60% is plenty.

          60% doesn't change a balance of power during a war. Heck 60% barely gets you out of an election these days without protests and riots. And again you're basing the number on the discourse from the USA about a topic that overwhelmingly a

        • I think you just made thegarbz' point.
          anti-vax propaganda has clearly been more effective than factual data.
          And yes, factual data does exist.

  • I am guessing quite a few of western exploit detectors will get a breather.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by suss ( 158993 )

      Most scans and exploit attempts on my IP have been coming from China, Ukraine, and the USA, for several years now. I doubt cutting off Russia will significantly change the number of hacking attempts worldwide.

      • They are double hopping from Russia, North Korea and Iran through other countries to play "Let's you and him fight". If all you are doing is looking at IP addresses in firewall logs without actually analyzing the servers they are coming from, the analysis of your observation is too simplistic. It part of their asymmetrical war on democracies that threaten autocratic rule by simply existing freely.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by deek ( 22697 )

      Also spam and ransomware attacks. I've blocked a number of Russian based public IPs due to this. Only a small percentage overall, but whenever I see SASL polling from Russian sources, I'm in the habit of putting a block on the whole network it comes from.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • We are allowing the free global communication that the internet gave us to be dismantled and broken up into camps. We need MORE communication and interconnectedness, not less. All this does is allow the corrupt global architects to move forward with the nightmare technocratic dystopia they have planned for the rest of us.

    • We are allowing the free global communication that the internet gave us to be dismantled and broken up into camps. We need MORE communication and interconnectedness, not less. All this does is allow the corrupt global architects to move forward with the nightmare technocratic dystopia they have planned for the rest of us.

      Please. Social Media drew humans in like a damn vacuum. Didn't take a war for that mindsuck to happen. Only took addiction.

      Want to target the actual "more harm than good"? Perhaps we initiate war against those manufacturing highly addictive products for children. Those who have mind-fucked politics until The Town Square was replaced by an online "marketplace". Ironically, freedom of information ain't on the menu.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      Well these ISPs are private enterprises, and rgeir calculus might go somting like this " if we don't stop providing services in Ruusia, we 're going to have a dual shitstorm of bad PR and cyber atttacks from hackers that want Russia to suffer in any way possible. Hmm the cheapest thing might be to forgo the revenue and shut down our Russia links and make a big noise about it" I bet those links will ve up a few seconds after the last russian military keaves Ukraine, with the possible exception of Donbas an

  • Soon Russia's internet connection will consist of a couple of 56k modems, mostly connected to China.

    On a more serious note, has the cuts by the backbone / transit providers reduced spam / DDoS attacks, etc?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jd ( 1658 )

      Unlikely. Most of those will be by zombie networks in the west, controlled by Russia. A 56k modem is perfectly adequate to send a command.

  • So much for an "unbreakable Internet" when the USA controls the pipes.
    • These are businesses that make decisions based upon financial criteria. What Russia has allowed Putin to do is bad for business.

      Business in Russia is now a nonstarter. Nobody wants Rubles and soon nobody will want Russian Blood Oil. Russia is not able to pay its bills.
  • My guess is the US State Department are behind this. Behind the scenes, they're probably 'reminding' these companies about their vulnerability to 'falling out of favour'. Want to have your trade applications & overseas infrastructure projects approved? Don't just impose cosmetic measures against Russia - You have to cut them off completely. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

  • So, you've shut off your enemy, from the internet.

    If we're going to actually get smarter about warfare, I'm guessing that we'll eventually get to a point where cyber warfare, will become quite a powerful tool.

    In the future, how exactly do you (cyber)attack your enemy, when you've taken them offline?

    You know that scene in Spaceballs where he accidentally turns off the movie?

    Yeah, that.

    Oh, and I know we haven't really gotten around to writing those silly cyberwar rules to avoid World War III, but you've take

  • As a lad, I remember the Russian / Soviet Woodpecker transmitter smothering RF Radio spectrum to block dissident services like VOA Shortwave and BBC. Cutting off internet is sure to get praise by the ministry of information. Plus it saves decadent overseas purchases, and steers them to local businesses. Lets hope the head of the firm can accept his Star of Russia award, just like in the James Bond Movies.

  • If Lumen isn't getting paid by the internet providers in Russia that might just be the reason they're closing the pipe.
    Occam's Razor

  • Boris Johnson declared that if Russia attacked Ukraine, he'd order a full-scale cyberwarfare attack on Russia. Well, it's been a while. Has anyone seen any evidence of this?

    No?

    Then does it really matter to Western planners if companies shut down the interconnect with Russia? Beyond Western intelligence no longer being able to receive live data from compromised systems?

  • ... cut off Russia, Twitter and other social media became much more pleasant, with far less "true Patriots!" and "MAGA" accounts posting vitriol and spreading bull****. Now, with Lumen cutting off the rest, it should actually be rather nice.

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