Feeling that too much military information has been leaking out via such channels as Telegram (it only took them four years of war to figure this out), Russia officials decided to crack down on VPN use, leading to one of the greatest examples of unintended consequences in recent memory.
Russian authorities are working hard to tighten control over the internet. Roskomnadzor recently began blocking Telegram, but users continue to access the platform via VPNs. The Kremlin is now attempting to censor VPNs as well, and this onion-layered approach to censorship is disrupting some critical domestic online services.
According to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the Kremlin’s increasing efforts to control and censor the global internet are causing widespread problems for Russian users. The Russian-born entrepreneur confirmed that Telegram is now banned in the country, yet more than 50 million Russians continue to use it daily via VPNs.
Moscow authorities have spent years attempting to control and block VPN platforms, Durov said. However, their latest efforts to restrict encrypted traffic and tunneling protocols have led to widespread failures in banking apps. Over the weekend, cash became the only reliable payment method across much of Russia.
According to unnamed industry sources cited by Bloomberg, the crackdown on VPNs may have triggered significant connectivity issues for banking platforms. Roskomnadzor’s filtering system was reportedly overloaded, causing reliability and network stability problems across the Russian internet.
Russia is attempting to push its citizens toward a domestic “super-app” called Max, designed to provide access to social media and mobile payment services – similar to how China’s WeChat app, Weixin, operates. Beijing authorities have unrestricted access to all traffic on Weixin, and the Kremlin appears to be aiming for the same level of control with Max.
Here’s another example of the “new” Russia acting a whole lot like the old Soviet Union. Mere individuals will not be allowed to keep secrets from the glorious state, comrade.
But the Soviet Union barely lasted into the Internet age. Its communications infrastructure was built from the ground-up to spy on citizens, with entire floors dedicated to KGB agents constructed above telephone exchanges. It’s quite a different task to try to tap today’s vast array of encrypted digital communication channels. Ordinary companies frequently have a tough time locking down their own digital infrastructure, because it’s hard to tell just what systems are communicating with other systems on which ports.
Now scale up the problem to an entire nation that’s been cut out of the world financial system for waging an illegal war of territorial aggression, and a tyrannical government blocking vast swathes of what Internet is left in the name of information control like Hans Gruber’s minion chainsawing through the Nakatomi Tower’s trunk cables in Die Hard. All sorts of things you want to keep working are going to break.
I also suspect the attempt to be a futile one, at least for VPN users. I suspect the technical minds behind those are far more adept than the government censors trying to block them.
Russia citizens are getting a lose/lose/lose scenario. They’re losing a war, basic civilizational functions are breaking, and Vlad’s Big Adventure has Russia slipping back into totalitarianism.
Tags: banking, Communism, Military, Pavel Durov, Roskomnadzor, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, technology, Telegram, VPN, Weixin
KremVAX lives!
http://catb.org/jargon/html/K/kremvax.html
Putin is the worst at game theory.
This is Russia’s suicide.
Killing Uki cousins, destroying his economy and infrastructure.
Lose lose lose is exactly right.
Hope Iran war works out for us, but don’t know how Russia ends this.
Maybe they have a Nixon who can come in with “Peace with Honor.”
Doubt it.
> Putin is the worst at game theory.
His game is “keep Putin in power”.
> This is Russia’s suicide.
For Putin, Russia’s wellbeing and long-term prospects are less important than his own power. (He does not want to end up like Gaddafi.)
With these priorities, his choices appear to be rational. In particular, he either plans to introduce universal conscription or predicts obvious military setbacks (or both; Ukraine’s current edge in drones cannot be averted simply with more bodies); this will trigger protests and uprisings, and to prevent or suppress them, he must prevent free communication.
“Over the weekend, cash became the only reliable payment method across much of Russia.”
Cash-and-Carry affords a large measure of anonymity. It is the primary means by which black markets operate and it allows the participants to escape the tax consequences of their transactions–revenue that otherwise would be used to finance the Z-war.
Winning!
Putin’s been building a new Iron Curtain, this one digital. He should remember how it went with the last one…
“This time for sure!”, I guess?
In both Russia and China, I don’t understand the mindset of “it’s far better to try to control everything our people see, fail, and lose their trust over and over, than to make our people more free, improve our economy, and become stronger”
“According to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the Kremlin’s increasing efforts to control and censor the global internet are causing widespread problems for Russian users.”
I guess this explains why we haven’t heard from Comrade Cartridge lately.
The Ukrainian SBU is using VPNs to communicate with their spy networks. GUR and SBU have arranged 120+ assassinations of Russian officials and civilians using VPNs. VPNs are also used to terminally guide Ukrainian long range, semi autonomous drones to targets deep within Russia.
10mm,
ja und?
“I guess this explains why we haven’t heard from Comrade Cartridge lately.”
Roskomnadzor (RKN) and its parent Minkomsvyaz have spent two years evaluating Ukrainian military usage of the internet to subvert and attack Russia. They have developed a comprehensive plan to neutralize the internet as a weapon.
Bureau 1440 put the Rassvat LEO constellation online last month, so the Russian military no longer needs western internet. The remaining issue is Spirit 030 terminals. About 6,000 have been delivered and activated thus far, with another 30,000 expected before year end.
Didn’t think you aficionados of military antiquities would be interested in technology developed over the last 50 years.
By the way, two A-10s went down on Good Friday after getting hit in Iranian Flak traps. One made it to Kuwait and the other splashed down at Hormuz. The F-15 also got hit in a Flak trap, by an Iranian copy of the old Russian Buk M2, no less. Fly your best stuff in a war, not your 50 year old antiques.
[…] Russia Cracks Down On VPNs, Brings Down Banks […]
“Roskomnadzor (RKN) and its parent Minkomsvyaz…have developed a comprehensive plan to neutralize the internet as a weapon.”
And look, it succeeded in paralyzing Russia’s banking system. Winning!