Russia experienced a widespread internet outage on Tuesday, affecting access to major websites including Yandex search, VKontakte social media, Sberbank online banking, and news outlets. The outage lasted for nearly four hours and primarily impacted users in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major cities.
While initial concerns centered on government intervention, the cause was attributed to a technical problem with the .ru domain’s DNS security system (DNSSEC). DNSSEC is a security protocol designed to prevent hacking attacks, but a malfunction in its signature process caused the disruption.
This wasn’t the first such incident in Russia, and similar outages have occurred in other countries as well. While some speculate it could be a test for a future isolated Russian internet, the outage is believed to be unintentional. The incident coincided with a separate Ukrainian cyberattack targeting a server used by Russia’s defense ministry. However, these events are likely unrelated.
Daryna Antoniuk of The Record:
Tuesday’s blackout was the biggest one this month. Earlier in January, Russia experienced a social media outage, likely caused by the state internet regulator, Roskomnadzor. A similar incident happened in a remote Russian region and was likely connected to protests there, as local authorities wanted to check how shutting down messengers could impact the protestors.
The .ru outage affected hundreds of websites, not just specific services. Russian tech media reported that the problem was caused by an incorrect DNSSEC zone signature. This cryptographic signature is applied to the DNS zone data of a specific domain to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the information. Anonymous sources told the Russian media outlet Kommersant that the outage was either a mistake made by the DNSSEC zone administrator, the Russian coordination center for .ru domains, or its contractors.
