As a cyber-defensive measure, the Russian government will
reportedly perform a trial run of a measure
that would effectively cut the
country off
from the rest of the world’s web.
Last year,
Russia introduced its
Digital Economy National Program, a plan
that would require Russian
internet providers to remain functional in the event the
country was cut off
from worldwide internet. Under this plan, Russian ISPs would redirect web traffic to routing points within the
country and rely on its own copy of the Domain Name System (DNS), the directory of domains and addresses
that underpins the global internet.
The
test run could be useful to the
country for a few reasons. Primarily,
Russia aims to simulate the drastic measures it would take in the case of some kind of cyber threat to its national security. But for a
country notorious for its restrictive environment for individual and press freedom, the
test may also be a useful way to see how the
country could wield a more closely held
internet to control its own people and guard against foreign interests.
The extreme measure, if successful, would allow
Russia to effectively operate its own state-controlled
internet and cut itself off
from the world as it sees fit. While the
test date is not yet known, it’s expected to happen before April 1 of this year, the last day for lawmakers to propose amendments to the Digital Economy National Program.
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