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Russia To Disconnect From the Internet as Part of a Planned Test (zdnet.com)

Russian authorities and major internet providers are planning to disconnect the country from the internet as part of a planned experiment, Russian news agency RosBiznesKonsalting (RBK) reports. From a report: The reason for the experiment is to gather insight and provide feedback and modifications to a proposed law introduced in the Russian Parliament in December 2018. A first draft of the law mandated that Russian internet providers should ensure the independence of the Russian internet space (Runet) in the case of foreign aggression to disconnect the country from the rest of the internet. In addition, Russian telecom firms would also have to install "technical means" to re-route all Russian internet traffic to exchange points approved or managed by Roskomnazor, Russia's telecom watchdog.

161 comments

  1. All your internet are disconnected! by registrations_suck · · Score: 4, Funny

    All your internet are disconnected!

    1. Re:All your internet are disconnected! by NetFusion · · Score: 5, Funny

      In Soviet Russia internet disconnects you

    2. Re:All your internet are disconnected! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course Soviet Russia is decades gone. Time to update to this millennium.

    3. Re:All your internet are disconnected! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Papa putin pouts about perilous packets

    4. Re:All your internet are disconnected! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See, in this sense San Francisco is the opposite of Soviet Russia.

    5. Re: All your internet are disconnected! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Peter Popoff preaching predates Putin's perilous packets.

  2. Well someone's preparing for War. Next up China. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, I guess it was fun whilst it lasted, before the politicians wrecked it.

  3. Muh-russia by GLMDesigns · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Think of all the spam bots and election tampering bots being down for a day or so. All those muh Russia types should be cheering.

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    1. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wrong, because most of those spam and election tampering bots are actually operated from Ukraine, Holland, Estonia, Latvia and United Kingdom.

    2. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      This is only about shutting off common people in Russia so that they can't get information from outside sources.
      Propaganda houses will still have access to internet and they probably go through external machines anyway to not be too easy to filter out.

    3. Re: Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait until Ecuador and the rest of Latin America shut down as a test

    4. Re:Muh-russia by aod7br7932 · · Score: 2

      Can't really say anything about spambots, as for election tampering... Will the US be also disconnected?

    5. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Think of all the spam bots and election tampering bots being down for a day or so. All those muh Russia types should be cheering.

      You've got that backwards. This is about protecting russian civilian infrastructure from retaliation. Their military operations will still be online. They aren't cutting themselves off from the internet to do anyone else any favors. The time-frame overlaps with Felonious DJT's threat to shutdown american cyber-defenses again. It should also be viewed in context of Russia's liquidating their holdings of American debt instruments, further insulating them from another form of possible retaliation.

    6. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Estonia, there did you get that from? Estonia is a NATO country. They fight Russian misinformation every day:
      " The countries that have most to teach the US about combating disinformation and state-sponsored troll armies include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania."
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/fruzsinaeordogh/2018/04/11/the-russian-troll-army-isnt-the-only-one-we-need-to-worry-about/

    7. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Of course, fox news has lots more direct accusations.

      Yeah... hand-waving unspecified claims sourced to the single biggest purveyor of disinformation in the US isn't as persuasive as you think it is.

    8. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      actually operated from Ukraine, Holland, Estonia, Latvia and United Kingdom.

      Thanks, nice to know what Russia's current hit list looks like straight from St Petersburg.

    9. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Step father Putin only wants the best for his adopted children.
      And if you dare to imply something else, what about those things that happen in the US or the EU?

      Anyway. Yes, spambots can come from everywhere. If any cyber warfare agency is working for the Kremlin from inside their jurisdiction, they will make sure to not disconnect them as far as their field of work goes.

    10. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... Will the US be also disconnected?

      so Russia can't interfere with our elections?

    11. Re: Muh-russia by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Estonia, there did you get that from? Estonia is a NATO country.

      Whoosh...

    12. Re:Muh-russia by Revek · · Score: 1

      They run those spambots on aws.

    13. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah... hand-waving unspecified claims sourced to the single biggest purveyor of disinformation in the US isn't as persuasive as you think it is.

      Yet thats exactly how the US wound up invading Iraq.

    14. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      > Yeah... hand-waving unspecified claims sourced to the single biggest purveyor of disinformation in the US isn't as persuasive as you think it is.

      Isn't that how we got into this Russia stuff as is? A lot of articles that all sourced each other, based on anonymous rumors, eventually traced back to the DNC working with a British spy (Steele) who was in the employ of the Oleg Deripaksa they're trying to throw under the buss now, never mind Mueller's own dealings with him?

    15. Re: Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet you still believe Saddam had nukes.

    16. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Isn't that how we got into this Russia stuff as is?

      Nope. And that's a particularly weak try. Surely you can do better. Or are are you just D-team?

    17. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty sure he's R-team ... much lower down the list.

    18. Re:Muh-russia by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Estonia, there did you get that from? Estonia is a NATO country."

      Holland, Estonia, Latvia and United Kingdom are all Nato countries and members of the European Union as well, albeit one of them only for a couple of weeks more.

    19. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adopted!?!? Vladimir Vladimirovich has been heroically impregnating all women in Russia since 2000! All Russian children are thus the direct descendants of Vladimir Vladimirovich!!!

    20. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering those bots properly don't operate from within Russia, them being offline, IF that is to actually occur, will stop none of that.

    21. Re: Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this is exactly the sort of sorry crap one expects to hear straight from Riga

    22. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The russian is crying that he gets called a shill literally every time he shills now. ; ;

      Not like the good ole days when he could shitpost all day and we thought he was a legitimate republican schizo rallying against welfare all day while collecting disability.

    23. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right. There would only be the American bots and shills left. What a terrible imbalance.

    24. Re:Muh-russia by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      Haha, you think the disconnect applies to the government and party officials.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    25. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Roy Moore is a child molester and his supporters are supporting a child molester.

    26. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That all runs off of compromised servers, computers, and IoT devices around the world.

    27. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your cyber-defenses are good enough, you don't fear retaliation. In fact, if your cyber-defenses are good enough, the last thing you want is to have some sort of planned isolation because the economic harm of that would be much worse than the fall-out of a cyber attack.

    28. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I doubt they are worried about retaliation. It's much more about the ability to isolate their own population from "Western" or "Capitalist" propaganda and resources not under their control. The biggest enemy of a government is its own population.

    29. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your cyber-defenses are good enough, you don't fear retaliation.

      NOBODY has cyber-defenses that good.

      the last thing you want is to have some sort of planned isolation because the economic harm of that would be much worse than the fall-out of a cyber attack.

      History is full of authoritarians shooting themselves in the foot. Putin has repeatedly fucked over the Russian economy to serve his own purposes. That's the benefit of being an authoritarian - you can make everybody else pay the price for your shitty decisions. To think he wouldn't do it again in some new way is to ignore all recent Russian history.

    30. Re: Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Forbes is fake news. Globalist mouthpiece.
      Estonia is a shit hole with no jobs, and home to some of the biggest Hacker conventions in the world.

    31. Re: Muh-russia by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Even Saddam believed Saddam had nukes. There's a problem with too much lying.

    32. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not how this works...

    33. Re:Muh-russia by thejynxed · · Score: 1

      With the small problem of US forces being within easy strike range of all completed gas and oil pipelines between Syria, Iran, and Russia.

      --
      @Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
    34. Re:Muh-russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um, that's the point of my comments. Russia, especially Putin, projects an unrealistic cult of personality about the greatest of Russia and Putin. The reality is much worse of course. To argue for these abilities for the reasons cited go against the narrative that is so often played. The real reasons are, of course, to grant Putin power over silencing outside influence for his own benefit. Of course, he could very well misread things and it'd backfire, but he also controls the newspapers/TV/etc and clearly a lot of Russians have decided to believe that narrative rather the readily available ones outside the country through the internet.

  4. BeauHD **MOST** upset by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What else is BeauHD going to post stories about?

    It's a full-fledged TRAGEDY!!!!

    1. Re: BeauHD **MOST** upset by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This. If Russia disconnects from the internet, and people keep acting like retards on the internet, then... maybe... there were no Russian bots? Maybe all those people you disliked online turned out to actually be Americans?
        INB4 BEAUHD PTSD

    2. Re: BeauHD **MOST** upset by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Russia's government probably won't disconnect services RT.com, since it is international and one of the sites where the useful-idiot trolls from the West gets their informations from.

      That's something you've got to admire about those tactics they've learned during the Cold War, they know how to convince people who are marginalized by their own governments of their perspective injected with their own propaganda. It works well on dumb people. And there's plenty where those are coming from.
      It's not Russia that provides the retards or makes them act like retards, those people are just parts of our own societies. Russia just found a way to capitalize on the situation.

  5. maybe russia has their own creimette by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and they want to limit the exposure to the rest of the world

    imagine a large toothless russian virgin with forearms like a polar bear making videos about how many funko pop dolls you can nest inside each other

    1. Re:maybe russia has their own creimette by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't that just Vladdy Putin?

    2. Re:maybe russia has their own creimette by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Took creimer 13 months to get 50 subscribers and he picked up seven subscribers this past weekend. He's "adulting" Bill Mayer for "adulting" Stan Lee in his new video.

    3. Re:maybe russia has their own creimette by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      creimette should "adult" himself by forming a relationship with another human being

      male or female

      perhaps use that funny thing between his legs for something else than pissing pre-diabetic urine that smells like table syrup

      ps: it's pronounced mah-er not "mayor", lol at dr manhantun, i also saw your face light up when you said glowing penis .... you love it

      pps: how many funko pop dolls you can nest inside each other?

      ppps: not in your butt please

  6. Won't someone think of the Russian Cam Whores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess we'll have to switch to the Canary Island Cam Whores instead.

    1. Re:Won't someone think of the Russian Cam Whores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The big lol =))

  7. Update hardware. by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Being how the Russians with some other countries have militarized the internet, causing other countries to fight back, I could see this as an opportunity to update all the equipment as to stop foreign attacks on them, as well disconnect any attacks in progress.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Update hardware. by mrbester · · Score: 1

      "In addition, Russian telecom firms would also have to install "technical means" to re-route all Russian internet traffic to exchange points approved or managed by Roskomnazor, Russia's telecom watchdog."

      Not mentioned: "technical means" to subvert the routes of worldwide traffic through hardware that performs MiTM attacks to steal everything from everybody.

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    2. Re:Update hardware. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems you mixed up Russia and America.

    3. Re:Update hardware. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could see this as an opportunity to update all the equipment as to stop foreign attacks on them, as well disconnect any attacks in progress.

      As well as to install taps that cannot be avoided.

  8. My webserver rejoices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My Wordpress sites will breathe a sigh of relief and might actually serve up genuine content to some real visitors for a change.

    1. Re:My webserver rejoices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you provide no link? I'm not rushin' out de doo' to go see...

  9. Thanks Russia! by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Funny

    (Russia disconnects from Internet for short test)
    (Rest of world notices 50% drop in spam, bots, DDoS attacks)
    (Russia goes to reconnect internet. Rest of world: "You know, maybe you should continue the test another 6 months or maybe indefinitely...?")

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Thanks Russia! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nice list! But the last one should be You know, maybe you should continue the test another 6 months or maybe until the 2020 elections are over?

    2. Re:Thanks Russia! by WindBourne · · Score: 2

      actually, it may create a reverse DDoS attack. After all, all the bots may go seeking to connected to the main server and since they can not, start tapping other servers as well.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Thanks Russia! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Imagine online gaming without running into Russians with bad microphones.

    4. Re:Thanks Russia! by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      (Russia disconnects from Internet for short test) (Rest of world notices 50% drop in spam, bots, DDoS attacks) (Russia goes to reconnect internet. Rest of world: "You know, maybe you should continue the test another 6 months or maybe indefinitely...?")

      I was just going to joke about it the other way ... "Russia does what?? How dare you ... uh ... go off by yourselves and not do anything to us ... "

    5. Re:Thanks Russia! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm,... how can we coax China into a disconnect test? Maybe even go through the list country by country and watch when spam drops - not allow them back online. Silo effect, you betcha! Could be good though.

  10. Stand by... This could get interesting.... by bobbied · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A whole bunch of malware/ransomware will stop working... The real question will be how much stuff in the USA will stop because of this?

    Yes, sir, Mr. Putin sir.. This will be a very interesting test.

    Personally, I figure, even Russia doesn't have enough control over it's internet connectivity to actually isolate themselves fully.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  11. did anyone else read that as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a tanned pest and do a double take
    or maybe even a triple take

  12. How many datapipes (approx) would run into Russia? by davecrusoe · · Score: 1

    I have to wonder about the scale of what it would take to isolate a country. How many data pipelines would likely run into a country the size of Russia? For instance, would cutting ~20 have an impact on 80% of traffic? Or are we talking 000s, or more? I assume there's a long tail here, but that a very large percentage of all traffic is probably routed through a small number of sources...?

    --Dave

  13. Are there any DNS root servers in RU? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm presuming the test is to see if they can keep going on their own... But they wont get far with out any root DNS servers...

    1. Re:Are there any DNS root servers in RU? by Alci12 · · Score: 1

      Surely they just default their own internal one

    2. Re:Are there any DNS root servers in RU? by manu0601 · · Score: 2

      In Russia, there are distributed nodes of root servers F and K, operated respectively by US non-profit ISC and EU-based RIPE NCC. I assume that they would try to run without them, given they are not operated by a russian company.

  14. Re:How many datapipes (approx) would run into Russ by Alci12 · · Score: 1

    Only and handful of major pipes into R afaik

  15. Ocean's 11: Russia by drummerboybac · · Score: 1

    This seems like a setup for some sort of russian heist movie. Like someone has to get in to steal some macguffin piece of tech while there is no internet to detect them or something like that.

    odinnadtsat' druzey Oushena: coming to a theater near you.

    Note: Apparently you cant use Cyrillic script in comments, it just shows up as blank.

  16. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A whole bunch of malware/ransomware will stop working...

    Not the state sponsored ones.
    This is only to make sure that the plebs doesn't get any opinions from outside sources.

  17. Let's call it intranet then by zwarte+piet · · Score: 1

    just to keep our nerd passes

  18. Re:How many datapipes (approx) would run into Russ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    According to my understanding of https://global-internet-map-2018.telegeography.com/ i see only 13 backbone lines. But like i said, i might not understand it completely or the map might not be complete.

  19. Trump should be doing this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The first strike will not be nukes. There are dozens of actors that could take out the internet. A society should be resilient enough that it can susrvive without the web. This is basic civil defense. It should not be a partisan issue.

    I like pickles. We should create a society where i can go to the store and buy some pickles even if another nation r group takes down the backbone of the hyperconnecter internet new wave society

  20. Actually kind of an interesting exercise by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder how survivable an internet cut would really be in terms of domestic services..

    How many things are mistakenly pointed at foreign DNS sources?

    What assumptions do CDNs make about location and sources, DNS horizens etc that could prove faulty?

    What complex filters and routing cost rules applied to BGP won't handle an event of that scale well?

    What gremlins lurk in platforms like Azure and AWS that will behave badly if all routes to non-domestic hosts suddenly go away. That isnt a failure mode that gets a lot testing at a guess. Sometimes even a lot of redundancy does not roll as smoothly as we might imagine when failure modes we did not account for crop up. See Wells Fargo last week..

    Honestly I applaud the Russians for undertaking the exercises. I'd *almost* say it would be a good thing for us to do here in the good old USA to do but I am not sure I want the government this administration or any other to have a working tested kill switch because I kinda be it would be misused ultimately.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    1. Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise by joeyadams · · Score: 1

      I wish the US would do this a week before elections, with a few test cuts in advance. Foreign opinion shouldn't be ignored, but there are bad actors (e.g. "troll farms") operating outside of US jurisdiction.

      I'm curious how hard it would be for the US to disconnect from the outside Internet. Hawaii and Alaska have voting populations and would need to be "inside" the firewall. Ideally we would continue to relay outside traffic through our routers to avoid impacting (say) Latin America's connectivity too much.

    2. Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise by strikethree · · Score: 2

      Honestly I applaud the Russians for undertaking the exercises. I'd *almost* say it would be a good thing for us to do here in the good old USA to do but I am not sure I want the government this administration or any other to have a working tested kill switch because I kinda be it would be misused ultimately.

      Gold.

      If a network is wholly owned and controlled by an entity, then that entity absolutely should do tests like this.

      That is the neat thing about America; the Federal government, nor any conglomeration of governments, own or are in control of, the various networks that participate in this glorious thing we call The Internet.

      If you hear a politician calling for a "Kill Switch", what you are really hearing is a call for centralized government typically known as a dictatorship. That is fine to create that type of government... just not in America. We are NOT going backwards no matter how much we are pulled backwards by the Old Guard.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    3. Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      look, I cited the very legitimate ethical, legal, freedom loving concern with the idea.

      I just think we would find lots of surprises if we actually tried something like this. Oh yeah the system should keep fine its fully redundant, oops wait its using a cert issued by a CA in $SOMEOTHERCOUNTRY and nobody set it up to send the entire chain. Boom all the clients going to fetch that intermediate CA now can't verify the server and won't connect...

      That kinda stuff is the reality of complex interconnected systems and although I am uncomfortable with our government gaining a HOWTO for isolating American networks. I also wish we did have the capability to do it and a good understanding of what breaks when you do; should world again break out into the sort of conflict that might necessitate that sort of thing. Ultimately I come down on the side of WWIII being less likely than some three letter agency deciding they need to unplug the entire nation as part of some crazy scheme to frame a political enemy of their for the kiddie porn or what have you but, I think its shame we have to accept the risk of not being able to keep intruders off the network even in war time because our government is so packed with short sighted fools.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    4. Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise by fafalone · · Score: 2

      I think you overestminate America's resiliency against government action. All the wireless networks already have actual kill switches they can be ordered to use without any oversight (it's only been done locally against protesters so far, but that demonstrated to everyone the capability was there and the government could shut off service whenever they felt like it). As far as wired internet, what are the ISPs going to do when armed agents show up with a NSL? Oh yeah, argue it in the secret court subject to full gag orders. And our Supreme Court itself favors that kind of expansive executive power anyway (and that's not a strictly partly line issue, so let's not go there, especially since one of Trump's appointees is a lot more inclined to restrain executive power than the judge the seat was stolen from). Our government may (currently) be treating (most) people nicer than Russia, but they have as much if not more power to enforce their will against all people and companies the minute they decide to stop being (kind of sort of) not so evil (to the general population).

    5. Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Domestic services from the Soviet Union decades went on a different local and national network, layer.
      International was a different network, layer, now digital.
      Russian kept the idea of one network, two layers. One domestic. One new, digital and international.
      Domestic and international digital networks can still work without each other.
      The ISP will still work internally to Russia. Russian games, science, education, company database, banking, medical, shopping, email, forum, social media, search engine.
      Russia has a much more easy way to separate its network and everything keeps working domestically.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re:Actually kind of an interesting exercise by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Re "I'm curious how hard it would be for the US to disconnect from the outside Internet."

      The CIA always needs the full cover of huge amounts of international calls, data to hide their global networks of spies in and under.
      Turn off that cover of vast US international data and peering that's global and 24/7 and every CIA spy that has data to send is stuck with a failed connection attempt that could be detected.

      The US can never have its international peering stop.
      To many people all over the world as US tourists, NGO, workers, academics, think tank workers, experts with full CIA cover who have information to send back to the USA every day.
      All the spies the CIA gave cash to who have data to send via the internet.
      Its all done digitally and has to arrive back in the USA in real time. No CIA, US embassy worker wants to walk around with another nations secrets for hours.
      So the internet is used to send data out. The global internet has to stay on for the USA. The more users globally the more cover for their decades of spies.
      Peering ensures most other nations cant disconnect from the USA and the US cant be kept out of their networks by design :)

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  21. In Soviet Russia by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, Internet disconnects y{#`%${%&`+'${`%&NO CARRIER

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  22. Thank you Jesus! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, 99.99999999999999% of the spam accounts on my sites are Russian bullshit. I spend WAY, way too much time fighting these assholes.

    I seriously doubt this will affect them. They go through proxies, Tor, whatever to get their fix. They ruin everything for everyone. Fuck them! I'm glad to hear of the shutdown.

  23. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, unless they cut all phone and other telecom connections as well as jam around the border....

  24. Golgafrinchans by 14erCleaner · · Score: 0

    Maybe we can get them to disconnect permanently, for their own good.

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
  25. While they're offline... by Fuzi719 · · Score: 0

    ...make it permanent. The rest of the world should take the opportunity to make it impossible for Russia to "reconnect". We don't need them.

    1. Re:While they're offline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should disconnect the US as well..

    2. Re:While they're offline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Who's "we"? Maybe we don't need you either.

  26. Purely coincidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't worry rest-of-world; is purely coincidence that massive virus was unleashed on internet during scheduled disconnection.

    1. Re:Purely coincidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also an opportunity to install the Great Firewall of Russia.

      MUCH MUCH better than the Great Firewall of China just ask us!

      We don't stop traffic, we just monitor it and send the KGB^H^H^HFSB to have long conversation with possible dissidents.

  27. smart on their part by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Russia and China are working together. It makes sense to have similar first strike capabilities. And yes, this is a first strike type capability. Protecting your communications.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:smart on their part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have a history of border disputes, and the trade is clearly not at the level it should be considering the geography. Russia can't be great again if they don't learn to negotiate and aim for common goals. Since Russia is Putin, or the secret cabal directing the Putin behind the scenes, great Russia means great Putin. Putins of this world, what say you?

  28. Re:How many datapipes (approx) would run into Russ by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    It is a near certainty that Russia has at least 100% more that connected quietly to the internet (probably follows large gas pipelines), that are for military use only.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  29. or... by Comboman · · Score: 4, Funny

    - Russia disconnects from Internet for short test.
    - Rest of world gets hit with "mysterious" virus/worm that takes down critical financial/industrial/military infrastructure.
    - Russia decides not to reconnect to protect their systems.
    - Brave Russian programmers develop "cure" for virus/worm, offer to help rest of world for "small" price (just eastern Europe).

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:or... by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      If you want to go there: then how about this is when they activate their 'Doomsday' virus, that's already silently infiltrated every system on the planet, and that completely overwrites and bricks every system it's on, including critical infrastructure systems, all banking systems, and finishes off by completely toasting all routers and switches, completely destroying the Internet? Maybe even having infected satellites in orbit, which sit there and continually infect any replacement systems that come online, immediately bricking them, too? Russia then emerges as the only country with working Internet of any kind.

  30. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by bobbied · · Score: 1

    Well, unless they cut all phone and other telecom connections as well as jam around the border....

    Well, then there are all the satellite based "backup" circuits and services you'd need to disrupt too. Good luck...

    I think the Russians would be ill advised to try blocking all these paths, but it sure would be interesting to observe them trying. The amount of stuff we could learn about their capabilities would be invaluable. Please Mr. Putin, Please do this. Show us what ya got.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  31. All jokes aside, but what about Yandex? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 2

    Not many people in the US use it, but Yandex is a very popular cloud service in Europe and other places, with businesses relying on it for day to day usage as much as businesses here in the US rely on AWS. I wonder how an outage will affect the customers using that for their day to day business.

    1. Re:All jokes aside, but what about Yandex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Fun fact, that includes Duckduckgo. While there is some validity in a nation state testing it's infrastructure against attacks, this is not that. The testing will also confirm if Russia is able to monitor all traffic and the biggest risk believe it or not are darknet / porn servers hosted in Russia. Yes, that is a thing because it's one of the last places you'd ever expect to find them.

      One other rather interesting test will be their BGP Interception since once international carriers pull their routes, it will cause a massive recalculation inside Russian (RUNET being primary). That will shunt traffic at their interception datacenters in much the same way the NSA works in the US. If Russia is spoofing Google for example all that traffic will suddenly hit theirs and not the real Google.

      TL;dr This little test will uncover just how extensive their Government spies nationally and internationally. To announce it is quite odd.

    2. Re:All jokes aside, but what about Yandex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yandex is pretty big, and I would be surprised if some companies didn't use them for a backend, if only as a way to stash data as a backup.

      One could consider this Russia-wide outage as a huge scream test, because it will definitely point out not just spies and spoofers, but which companies are storing data on Russian servers.

  32. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    As I mentioned below, there is near zero chance of Russia being 100% isolated. There will certainly be other lines that will connect from hidden points in the west, and then ran back to Russian SVR.

    The interesting issue will be if some of the malware continues to work. That would say that the server is either outside of Russia, OR the aforementioned hidden points are running, and considered secured.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  33. plus a few more by Comboman · · Score: 1
    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re: plus a few more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keep reading fake news, and youâ(TM)ll be seeing Russians everywhere. Dumb ass.
      Washington Post IS fake news.

  34. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Real curiosity is how much legitimate traffic stops working that was being routed through Russia unknowingly

  35. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by ghoul · · Score: 1

    Thy could go for 2 birds with one stone and also test their anti Satellite missiles at the same time on these ummm "Backup Circuits?"

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
  36. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    I think the various Internet killswitches are being made primarily in case of a Black Mirror S01E01 scenario...

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  37. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    Awesome. Finally someone using the correct intelligence agency name instead of the usual FSB.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  38. Not a bad thing to be prepared for, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While I'm sure the Russians motivations are dubious at best, all countries SHOULD be ready for situations where they might need to function on their own (undersea cable cut, satellite loss, cyber-terrorism, cyber-warfare, sanctions, etc).

    1. Re:Not a bad thing to be prepared for, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Possibly valid for countries that have only a few connections to the outside world. Definitely not valid for Russia. The doomsday scenario that the politicians tout, "enemies will disconnect Russia", is not viable, because it would involve an unprecedented degree of collaboration from too many "enemies" (Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, to name a few). Proof: let's look with whom e.g. Rostelecom has connections. https://bgp.he.net/AS12389#_peers lists companies from too many countries that are not allies to each other. The same is true for other big Russian ISPs. In other words, because nobody outside can disconnect Russia, this is only a test to verify that Vladimir Putin can do it at will.

  39. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about the opposite? A whole bunch of malware, both inside and outside Russia could *start* working. Malware inside Russia borking systems because they cannot connect to the outside; malware inside spoofing outside IPs, etc. Malware outside specifically designed to screw with the Russian reconnection, setting up MITM for Russian embassies, etc. NSA/GCHQ/etc. must be creaming themselves.

  40. Nationalist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait, you mean it's OK for Russian and China to be nationalist but it's not OK for US to be proud of being american?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQeiaeEGaFc

  41. I wish U.S. would do the same. And stay that way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would certainly bode better for the rest of the world, who is subject to cyber espionage and sabotage by NSA/CIA.

  42. internet providers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The single point of failure, the weak link, yet still an almost impenetrable wall, better at blocking access than providing it. I guess we just need bigger bullets to knock down these barriers.

  43. From a network management perspective... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...it should be interesting not just to see what manages to come back online on its own after the fact, but also to see what fails to come back online, and what comes back online but "not working/configured the same as before".

    I say a lot more gremlins are going to be found than expected. This sort of test should be done on a regular basis until they're all worked out (meaning: never).

  44. LOL, this isn't what it sems by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 2

    I'm sure they know how easy it would be to circumvent this measure from external threats getting in. All it takes is a bunch of satellite based routes and compromised consumer equipment to get in and be difficult to detect.

    Doesn't everybody really understand why the US government is so concerned about Huawei? Governments understand that all the routers running BGP control what gets blocked and what get routed. Whose routers do people think are being used everywhere?

    This "experiment" is meant to block Russian citizens from accessing the world of free speech to protect their oligarchy in the event of an emergency.

    --
    Greed is the root of all evil.
    1. Re:LOL, this isn't what it sems by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Think back to the way the NSA and GCHQ networked in the 1950-1980's.
      Location and networks globally in real time.
      It was a network only the 5 eye nations like the UK and USA could do globally and in real time.
      South America, South Africa, Asia, Europe all on the same global network in real time back to the UK and USA.
      Russia had to use spy ships, embassy locations and human spies for that.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  45. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by bobbied · · Score: 1

    LOL.. It's thinking like that which will get a war started.

    I can tell you that shooting at satellites you don't own is likely to be interpreted as a prelude to war, if not a declaration of war. As such, I'd bet the Russians would be unlikely to do that.

    However, what they *might* do is some jamming to disrupt communications without doing any lasting damage. "Oh, so your Yankee satellite was broken for awhile? Too bad. You should have used ours, they don't break like yours.. "

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  46. That's a funny looking shade of tan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tanned pest

    I just assumed they were referring to Trump

  47. Russia in depth by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jokes aside the Russian mafia elites along with their God Father Tsar Putin do everything to brainwash the poor Russian people into believing the country is the best in the world despite very low wages, underdeveloped industries, technological gap, huge brain drain, horrible health care (which is roughly 20-30 years behind the rest of the world), rampant corruption, poor ecological situation in many cities, comparatively low average life span, totally malfunctioning courts and police that mainly serve the richest.

    The Internet is the only media that cannot fully control, so this could be a nice test of what else they can deprive the people of, so that the opposition has literally no means of revealing the truth about the inner workings of Russia.

    You see, in many countries of the worlds there's mafia however as for Russia mafia has its own ... state.

    1. Re:Russia in depth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      %s/Russian/US American/g

      I here ya,

    2. Re:Russia in depth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice anti-Russianism.

    3. Re: Russia in depth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please expand on this. You really need to share your knowledge of Russia. Don't keep it to yourself.

    4. Re: Russia in depth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's astonishing to find Kremlin trolls even on /.

    5. Re:Russia in depth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ahh yes, the old typical smear from the Amerikanski. well just who was it who installed all of the shady Oligarchs and handed them Monopoly ownership over formerly public Russian resources? who was it who picked Oligarchs who were corrupt mafioso and all too happy to be bribed in order to obey orders from a certain US Intelligence agency?

      https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/uncategorized/so-who-really-tried-to-blackmail-yeltsin-takeover-russia-nsa-cia-or-investment-bankers/

      Oh, that's right, it was Bill Clinton and the CIA and the FBI who were largely responsible for looting the post-USSR economy and installing /theirguys/ as the Oligarchs and who setup Yeltsin to frame him for bribery in order to install /theirguy/ Berezovsky as Yeltsin's successor. And then it was KGB Made Man Putin, with impeccable credentials and unquestioned loyalty to Russia whom Yeltsin reached out to for help to rescue Yeltsin from Langley.

      but tell me more about just how bad things really are for the average Russian, who has seen their income rise by 25x since 2000, and who's GDP has gone up 3x, and most shockingly who's national debt has plunged from 92% of annual GDP in 1999 to 17% of GDP in 2017. Meanwhile, according to CBO, in 2017, the US National Debt finally reach 78% of its annual GDP, and projected it will be 92% of GDP in 2028. Meanwhile, in your so-called "Land of the Free", your average worker doesn't even have $500 to scrape together in an emergency. Meanwhile, your Megacities are already 3rd world shitholer favelas, overflowing with foreigners who will never assimilate and who will only suck up Welfare for the remainder of their lives and never meaningfully contribute anything back to American society. Meanwhile, your cities are slums, your public works and services are crumbling and ineffective, your drug abuse epidemic is out of control, and your Proles are being plundered by mega billionaire Silicon Valligarchs and reduced to a permanent life of sefdom.

  48. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hmm, no, try S02E03.

    The thing is, disconnecting from the internet and trying to build a censorship wall, comes at a cost that holds back innovation.

    For example, all those Russian and Chinese hackers, now suddenly their activities are completely exposed as coming from Russia or China, because the VPN termination points all come from the same origin. You may be able to connect to a VPN, but your privacy is still being exposed if the termination point goes through these firewall points, or the VPN won't work at all.

    Which means online games (which are used for russian and chinese money laundering) will be cut off.

  49. Baby, you're the greatest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Expect a boom about 10months from now ;)

  50. NATO-shmato by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Estonia is a first and foremost a poor country to outsource IT businesses into.
    It also is a large Putins money laundromat.

    1. Re: NATO-shmato by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought that was the USA.

    2. Re: NATO-shmato by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Danske Bank laundered about 300 billion euros through Estonia.

  51. Saw this coming decades ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The great firewall of china promised to be the first in a long line of country-exclusive internets.

  52. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by sheramil · · Score: 1

    Will not be cut jam. Jam is need for tea.

  53. Re:How many datapipes (approx) would run into Russ by Nkwe · · Score: 1

    Pulling the plug on all known connections is a way to find unknown connections. If after pulling the plug, any packets find their way in or out, they will know that they haven't found all the connections. To do this you could stage software inside and outside of Russia that attempted pings in each direction. You would track any pings actually received and track down the path they took. This could be coordinated with non-Internet based data connections.

  54. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    COme on, didn't anyone watch Salvation?

    You gotta be careful with that Internet Kill Switch. Shutting down the DNS will prevent you from uploading that "Save the World" video to Twitter, and then you will have to reboot the Internet.

  55. Bill and Hillary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clintons need to put an 'away from email' message in their .vacation

  56. Can they maybe stay that way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    n/t

  57. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by strikethree · · Score: 1

    Personally, I figure, even Russia doesn't have enough control over it's internet connectivity to actually isolate themselves fully.

    This is the quote I was looking for.

    I have had to do communications isolation before. It is easy to prevent all useful traffic from flowing. It is easy to block the majority of communications...

    but you can't block all communications.

    Somewhere within Russia, there is someone using a satellite to get out of the country and back onto the planet somewhere other than Russia.

    Somewhere within Russia, there is someone using radio waves with an end point across the border.

    Somewhere within Russia, there is someone creating links to the internet through non-traditional means that the default block will miss.

    Each one of those "leaks" is minor in the scheme of things, but once information finds those paths, the pressure will be intense. Lots of information will flow.

    And Russia is about to find this out. I call it a leak test. They may not be intending this to be a leak test, but it is a good leak test. :)

    --
    "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  58. Re: How many datapipes (approx) would run into Rus by buchanmilne · · Score: 1

    "To do this you could stage software inside and outside of Russia that attempted pings in each direction. You would track any pings actually received and track down the path they took. This could be coordinated with non-Internet based data connections."

    Why would they go to that much effort for such poor info if they could just subscribe to BGPMon (bgpmon.net) for a month ($13)?

  59. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Shark · · Score: 2

    Actually, that's a brilliant strategy. They're waiting for Trump to show off how he can disconnect the US from the Internet much longer and much better!

    --
    Mind the frickin' laser...
  60. Re: How many datapipes (approx) would run into Rus by Nkwe · · Score: 1

    "To do this you could stage software inside and outside of Russia that attempted pings in each direction. You would track any pings actually received and track down the path they took. This could be coordinated with non-Internet based data connections."

    Why would they go to that much effort for such poor info if they could just subscribe to BGPMon (bgpmon.net) for a month ($13)?

    To look for unexpected paths? BGP certainly drives the bulk of routing configuration but is it guaranteed that *all* routes are manged via BGP? Granted that a small number observation points are unlikely to find rogue routes, but there may be other tests that could be done to find them. Sometimes it is worth testing the "impossible".

  61. BitTorrent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What does this mean for torrents and torrent search sites like Zooqle?

  62. The pot calling the kettle black by edris90 · · Score: 1

    The USA, the most sense infamous of villian's in today's world, has got no room to blame Russia for the same shit. Russians just less Sneaky, which if anything is more honorable

    1. Re:The pot calling the kettle black by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sergei, you believe too much of your own propaganda.

    2. Re: The pot calling the kettle black by edris90 · · Score: 1

      Just because you're born American doesn't mean America isn't shit.

  63. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Quantum+gravity · · Score: 1

    Well, according to the fact checking site Snoops, Trump did say this in 2015:

    "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way Somebody will say, ‘Oh, freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people."

    See: https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch...

    Actually shutting down the internet is relatively common worldwide. India, Pakistan and Iraq shuts down the internet fairly often. It often happens during political unrest.

  64. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Quantum+gravity · · Score: 1

    /s/Snoops/Snops

  65. 1,000,000,000,,000 Reconnection fees are a bitch. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If those assholes didn't give us Tramp, I'd be sympathetic.

  66. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Cederic · · Score: 1

    according to the fact checking site Snoops

    Fact check: Snopes is not a fact checking site.

  67. The Internet as we *knew* it is gone by dddux · · Score: 1

    As soon as politicians started thinking about the Internet, I knew it would be ruined and gone. Such a shame. It was so good while it lasted. Such sense of freedom. No borders and shit. I guess we'll have to invent something else to keep the humanity connected without borders and stupid politicians.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
    1. Re:The Internet as we *knew* it is gone by dddux · · Score: 1

      The most laughable thing is - they don't understand a fucking shit about how Internet works. LOL

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
  68. Re: Stand by... This could get interesting.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dumb ass

  69. Re:How many datapipes (approx) would run into Russ by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Depends on the peering deals the Soviet Union and Russia got over the decades to the West.
    What went into East Germany, Poland.
    What was done for Russian in past years.
    The Soviet planning of a domestic network and a fully monitored international network.
    Russia had to use the same network and now has two different networks.
    The trick might be in how the long-distance connection still got separated from all other networks.
    Its stops and everything else keeps working internally as everything international from Russia is now all digital.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  70. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    On the plus side though, World of Warcraft will be a friendly place again without the huge black market for gold farming and account hijacking.

  71. So we'll be able to play counterstrike by mdhoover · · Score: 2

    Without hearing "Cyka Blyat".
    /me goes to rush b

  72. RoscomnaDzor you monkey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nadzor - Oversight
    Nazor - Exhibition? (Not a real word, becomes 2 words âoeOnâ+âsightâ)

  73. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nah merkins trying to bilk every last $ from you did that long before the politicians woke to the internet.

  74. poor Donald his connection will drop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and he won't get paid nor his marching orders via his secret severs if they ever actually trigger this.

    Ever cloud has a silver lining!

  75. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    shhhh. Few here have ever worked in intelligence (and it shows). This way, you can avoid dealing with total idiots.
    As it is, there are many here that think that Putin is a communist, and that China is not.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  76. Re:Well someone's preparing for War. Next up Chin by Quantum+gravity · · Score: 1
  77. Re:Stand by... This could get interesting.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    China is Communist !!
    It's in the name.
    --
    WindBourne