Bitcoin Forum

Traffic from occupied Ukraine subjected to Russia's censorship, surveillance machine.

Web pages in the city of Kherson in south Ukraine stopped loading on people’s devices at 2:43 pm on May 30. For the next 59 minutes, anyone connecting to the Internet with KhersonTelecom, known locally as SkyNet, couldn’t call loved ones, find out the latest news, or upload images to Instagram. They were stuck in a communications blackout. When web pages started stuttering back to life at 3:42 pm, everything appeared to be normal. But behind the scenes everything had changed: Now all Internet traffic was passing through a Russian provider and Vladimir Putin’s powerful online censorship machine.

Since the end of May, the 280,000 people living in the occupied port city and its surrounding areas have faced constant online disruptions as Internet service providers are forced to reroute their connections through Russian infrastructure. Multiple Ukrainian ISPs are now forced to switch their services to Russian providers and expose their customers to the country’s vast surveillance and censorship network, according to senior Ukrainian officials and technical analysis viewed by WIRED.

The Internet companies have been told to reroute connections under the watchful eye of Russian occupying forces or shut down their connections entirely, officials say. In addition, new unbranded mobile phone SIM cards using Russian numbers are being circulated in the region, further pushing people toward Russian networks. Grabbing control of the servers, cables, and cell phone towers—all classed as critical infrastructure—which allow people to freely access the web is considered one of the first steps in the “Russification” of occupied areas.

“We understand this is a gross violation of human rights,” Victor Zhora, the deputy head of Ukraine’s cybersecurity agency, known as the State Services for Special Communication and Information Protection (SSSCIP), tells WIRED. “Since all traffic will be controlled by Russian special services, it will be monitored, and Russian invaders will restrict the access to information resources that share true information.”

KhersonTelecom first switched its Internet traffic to a Russian network on April 30, before flipping back to Ukrainian connections for the majority of May. However, things appear to have shifted permanently since May 30. All of KhersonTelecom’s traffic is now being routed through Miranda Media, a Crimea-based company that is itself connected to Russian national telecom provider Rostelecom. (Miranda Media was set up after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.) The day after KhersonTelecom made its latest switch, state-controlled Russian media outlet RIA Novosti claimed the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas were officially being moved to Russian Internet connections—days earlier, the outlet said the regions were also going to start using the Russian telephone code +7.

Zhora says that across occupied regions of Ukraine—including Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia—there is a patchwork of around 1,200 different ISPs. “We understand that most of them are forced to connect to Russian telecom infrastructure and reroute traffic,” Zhora tells WIRED. “Unfortunately, there are cases of massive routing of traffic of Ukrainian operators across Russian channels,” says Liliia Malon, the commissioner of Ukraine’s telecom regulator, the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications. “Ukrainian networks are partially blocked or completely disconnected.”

Technical analysis confirms that the connections are switching. Internet monitoring company Cloudflare has observed KhersonTelecom’s traffic passing through Miranda Media for more than two weeks in June. Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at monitoring firm Kentik, has observed around half a dozen networks in Kherson connecting to the provider. “It's not a one-time thing,” Madory says. “Every couple of days, there's another company getting switched over to Russian transit from Ukraine.”

Since the start of Putin’s war in February, disrupting or disabling Internet infrastructure has been a common tactic—controlling the flow of information is a powerful weapon. Russian missiles have destroyed TV towers, a cyberattack against a satellite system had knock-on impacts across Europe, and disinformation has tried to break Ukrainian spirits. Despite frequent Internet blackouts, Ukraine’s rich ecosystem of Internet companies has rallied to keep people online. While Ukrainian troops are successfully launching counterattacksagainst Russian occupation in the south of the country, Kherson remains controlled by invading forces. (In March, it became the first major city to fall into Russian hands, and its residents have lived under occupation for around 100 days, reporting numerous incidents of torture.)

“It's one thing to take over a city and to control the supply lines into the city, the flow of food or fuel,” says David Belson, head of data insight at Cloudflare, who has written about Internet control in Kherson. But, he says, “controlling Internet access and being able to manipulate the Internet access into an occupied area” is a “new front” in the conflict.

There are multiple ways Russian forces are taking over Internet systems. First, there is physical access—troops are seizing equipment. Spokespeople for two of Ukraine’s biggest Internet providers, Kyivstar and Lifecell, say their equipment in Kherson was switched off by Russian occupying forces, and they don’t have any access to restore or repair equipment. (Throughout the war, Internet engineers have been working amid shelling and attacks to repair damaged equipment.) The SSSCIP says 20 percent of telecommunications infrastructure across the whole of Ukraine has been damaged or destroyed, and tens of thousands of kilometers of fiber networks are not functioning.

Once Russian forces have control of the equipment, they tell Ukrainian staff to reconfigure the networks to Miranda Media, Zhora says. “In case the local employees of these ISPs are not willing to help them with the reconfiguration, they are able to do it by themselves,” Zhora says. The SSSCIP, he adds, has advised staff not to risk their own lives or the lives of their families. “We hope that we are able to liberate these lands soon and this temporary period of blackmailing of these operators will pass off,” Zhora says, adding it is unlikely that communications in the region can be restored before the areas are liberated.

For the time being, at the very least, this means connections will be routed through Russia. When Gudz Dmitry Alexandrovich, the owner of KhersonTelecom, switched his connection to Miranda Media for the first time at the start of May, he claims some customers thanked him because he was getting people online, while others chastised him for connecting to the Russian service. “On May 30 again, like on April 30, everything absolutely everything fell and only Miranda's channels work,” Alexandrovich says in a translated online chat. In a long Facebook post published on the company’s page at the start of May, he claimed he wanted to help people and shared photos of crowds gathering outside KhersonTelecom’s office to connect to the Wi-Fi.

Russia is also trying to control mobile connections. In recent weeks, a mysterious new mobile company has popped up in Kherson. Images show blank SIM cards—totally white with no branding—being sold. Little is known about the SIM cards; however, the mobile network appears to use the Russian +7 prefix at the start of a number. Videos reportedly show crowds of citizens gathering to collect the SIM cards. “The Russian forces realize they're at a disadvantage if they keep using Ukrainian mobile networks,” says Cathal Mc Daid, the chief technology officer at mobile security company Enea AdaptiveMobile Security. The company has seen two separatist mobile operators in Donetsk and Luhansk expanding the territory they are covering to newly occupied areas.

Who controls the Internet matters. While most countries place only limited restrictions on the websites people can view, a handful of authoritarian nations—including China, North Korea, and Russia, severely limit what people can access.

Russia has a vast system of Internet censorship and surveillance, which has been growing in recent years as the country tries to implement a sovereign Internet project that cuts it off from the rest of the world. The country’s System for Operative Investigative Activities, or SORM, can be used to read people’s emails, intercept text messages, and surveil other communications.

“Russian networks are fully controlled by the Russian authorities,” Malon, the Ukrainian telecom regulator, says. The rerouting of the Internet in occupied Ukrainian areas, Malon says, has the goal of spreading “Kremlin propaganda” and making people believe Ukrainian forces have abandoned them. “They are afraid that the news about the progress of the Ukrainian army will encourage resistance in the Kherson region and facilitate real activities,” Zhora says.

At the heart of the rerouting is Miranda Media, the operator in Crimea that appeared following the region’s annexation in 2014. Among “partners” listed on its website are the Russian security service known as the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Defense. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

In many ways, Crimea may act as an example of what happens next in newly occupied areas. “Only in 2017, Crimea was completely disconnected from Ukrainian traffic. And now, as far as I know, it's only Russian traffic there,” says Ksenia Ermoshina, an assistant research professor at the Center for Internet and Society and an affiliated researcher at the Citizen Lab. In January last year, Ermoshina and colleagues published research on how Russia has taken control of Crimea’s Internet infrastructure.

After it annexed Crimea in 2014, Russian authorities created two new Internet cables running along the Kerch Strait, where they connect with Russia. This process took three years to complete—something Ermoshina calls a “soft substitution model,” with connections transferring slowly over time. Since then, Russia has developed more advanced Internet control systems. “The power of the Russian censorship machine changed in between [2014 and 2022],” Ermoshina says. “What I'm afraid of is the strength of Russian propaganda.”

It’s likely that rerouting the Internet in Kherson and the surrounding areas is seen by Russian authorities as a key step in trying to legitimize the occupation, says Olena Lennon, a Ukrainian political science and national security adjunct professor at the University of New Haven. The moves could also be a blueprint for future conflicts.

Alongside Internet rerouting in Kherson and other regions, Russian officials have started handing out Russian passports. Officials claim a Russian bank will soon open in Kherson. And the region has been moved to Moscow’s time zone by occupying forces. Many of the steps echo what previously happened in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. “Russia is making it clear that they're there for a long haul,” Lennon says, and controlling the Internet is core to that. “They're making plans for a long-term occupation.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/06/russia-is-taking-over-ukraines-internet/?comments=1

Since the start of Putins war in February, disrupting or disabling Internet infrastructure has been a common tacticcontrolling the flow of information is a powerful weapon. Russian missiles have destroyed TV towers, a cyberattack against a satellite system had knock-on impacts across Europe, and disinformation has tried to break Ukrainian spirits. Despite frequent Internet blackouts, Ukraines rich ecosystem of Internet companies has rallied to keep people online. While Ukrainian troops are successfully launching counterattacksagainst Russian occupation in the south of the country, Kherson remains controlled by invading forces. (In March, it became the first major city to fall into Russian hands, and its residents have lived under occupation for around 100 days, reporting numerous incidents of torture.)

Elon Musk tried to be the hero to save ukraine from Putin's internet control via starlink. But apparently many do not like Elon Musk or starlink and so I guess that isn't considered a viable option.

I mean, there is only so much a billionaire can do to stand up to a dictator. Besides, their actions are largely uncoordinated.

Do you remember what the German Nazis did when they seized foreign territories? Your radio, your newspapers, your news, your history, your presenters. What Nazi Russia is doing today in Ukraine is a pathetic imitation of the Third Reich, starting from a pathetic copy of the Fuhrer and ending with everything else. But today the main channel for turning people into idiots is propaganda TV and controlled internet. They are afraid of the Internet, because through it you can find out the truth, and therefore, first of all, they switch traffic to their exchange nodes. Well, how else to spoil the brain of the layman with propaganda?

[This thread should probably be moved to Politics and Society.]

I think it would be very useful to uncover the goals and strategies (& tactics) of the Russian disinformation machine at large, if only for the people to see how it works and defend themselves from it.

It would also help us see how such a disinformation machine can be used by other bad entities (think anybody trying to be a Big Brother) could use it for their own nefarious purposes, in somecases for world-wide brainwashing - as the internet is worldwide and it transcends all countries.



The success or failure of this operation depends on how completely they control the communication lines to control the narrative. Turkish Army rebels tried this in 2016 and failed because they didn't do it completely. Perhaps if Ukranians recapture Kherson in a few months, then the vast Russian communications apparatus will be quickly destroyed. Better no internet than an enemy-controlled one, from the army's point of view. Civilians will obviously maintain the opposite, and I myself must admit that life without internet connectivity is very unbearable (from previous experience).


I mean, there is only so much a billionaire can do to stand up to a dictator. Besides, their actions are largely uncoordinated.

I think it is not surprising that Russia has now mastered everything in Ukraine, including the internet network in Ukraine today, war in the modern era like today, of course, the internet and telephone networks are vital things that are very decisive and that's why why russia is targeting to take over control of internet and telephone servers in the country,I think nowadays it will be very difficult for ukraine citizens to hide their privacy on internet because they are getting surveillance from russian side.

It's very common to spy on your enemy's network to extract information during wartime. In general time powerful countries spy on their neighbors to blackmail them to fulfill their interests. So I am not surprised here. If you know your enemy's movement or you know what people are thinking then you can easily manipulate the situation.

Russia's hackers are world-famous and it is obvious that govt will use them to invade in Ukraine's internet also. They could influence people's sentiment by spreading fake news or fake survey reports to influence people's sentiment.

"Russian hackers" as well as "Russian, the second most powerful army in the world" as well as their "unparalleled weapons" is a fake. A fake that was launched on all pro-Russian information channels many years ago :) Yes, it affects immature minds, and people who are not used to checking information. But in reality - apart from rough and primitive destruction, they can do nothing even with a small Ukraine! Their "vaunted army" received a global rebuff in Ukraine, their entire fake doctrine of "occupying Ukraine in 2 weeks" failed. All their attempts to influence the work of Ukrainian companies and the army did not give any noticeable result, moreover, they showed their fake "power" in all directions! Name at least one example of how Russian hacker groups, which you claim are very strong and well-known, were able to cause real, global harm to Ukraine? :) Attempts - were, I agree, in the subject. But not a single group could do a real total collapse. Russia is a complete fake, from history to "the most powerful hackers"! :)

Its a fake pro Russian information but the US government kept accusing them of hacking everything including that gas pipeline without proving it. Apparently they intensify the information which glorify the Russian  hacker information instead. If the Russians were just to  make it brutal, they  wouldn't give access to internet at all like what happened in Afghanistan or Iraq war, they  must have understood Internet access is among of human rights as well.

Certainly they wouldn't allow Elon's Starlink, it will be like giving all the information to a lone man who has its own agenda. Why he isn't even kidnapped like Meng Wanzhou of Huawei is beyond our concern. Probably because half the world just don't like China dominating the 5G.

Its a fake pro Russian information but the US government kept accusing them of hacking everything including that gas pipeline without proving it. Apparently they intensify the information which glorify the Russian  hacker information instead. If the Russians were just to  make it brutal, they  wouldn't give access to internet at all like what happened in Afghanistan or Iraq war, they  must have understood Internet access is among of human rights as well.
Certainly they wouldn't allow Elon's Starlink, it will be like giving all the information to a lone man who has its own agenda. Why he isn't even kidnapped like Meng Wanzhou of Huawei is beyond our concern. Probably because half the world just don't like China dominating the 5G.

Russia can take over Ukraine because of their house efficient, Ukraine don't have sufficient equipment like Russian and what Ukraine needs to survive is a support from other he countries who is the world power so left with it I think Russia will eliminate every soul or single soul in Ukraine so US needs to intervene seriously into the war between Russia and Ukraine

Russia can take over Ukraine because of their house efficient, Ukraine don't have sufficient equipment like Russian and what Ukraine needs to survive is a support from other he countries who is the world power so left with it I think Russia will eliminate every soul or single soul in Ukraine so US needs to intervene seriously into the war between Russia and Ukraine

I think after all the destruction with the bombing from Russia ....most internet infrastructure are destroyed. The Russian controlled areas will most probably be restored, so people will rather resort back to the infrastructure that was there before the war started.

I will rather use Elon Musk's Starlink for a more secure communication media, but I doubt if people in a war zone... will be able to pay for that.  (the base price for Starlink service is $135 a month)  ::)

I think after all the destruction with the bombing from Russia ....most internet infrastructure are destroyed. The Russian controlled areas will most probably be restored, so people will rather resort back to the infrastructure that was there before the war started.

I will rather use Elon Musk's Starlink for a more secure communication media, but I doubt if people in a war zone... will be able to pay for that.  (the base price for Starlink service is $135 a month)  ::)