An outage occurred in Russia that made it impossible to access Telegram, WhatsApp, Wikipedia, Discord, Twitch, etc., and government authorities claimed it was a DDoS attack, but some doubted the government was blocking it
An outage occurred in Russia that made it impossible to access multiple online services, including Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype, Wikipedia, Steam, Discord, and Twitch. About an hour after the outage, Roskomnadzor
As Telegram, WhatsApp, and numerous other web services go down in Russia, Moscow blames attackers while activists suspect Kremlin interference — Meduza
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/08/21/as-telegram-whatsapp-and-numerous-other-web-services-go-down-in-russia-moscow-blames-attackers-while-activists-suspect-kremlin-interference
Russia Blames Cyberattack Over Telegram, WhatsApp Outage | Barron's
https://www.barrons.com/news/large-scale-outages-hit-telegram-whatsapp-in-russia-3a08695c
Russia Blames Telegram, WhatsApp Outage on Cyberattack as Experts Point to Censorship - The Moscow Times
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/08/21/russia-blames-telegram-whatsapp-outage-on-cyberattack-as-experts-point-to-censorship-a86098
On Wednesday, August 21, 2024, local time, Russian internet users reported being unable to access several online services. According to Downdetector , which tracks internet outages, the services that were inaccessible from Russia included not only overseas services such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Skype, Wikipedia, Steam, Discord, and Twitch, but also the Russian social media service VKontakte. Russia's largest telecommunications operator, Rostelecom , also detected these outages.
In the image below, the services that were no longer accessible are those with a red exclamation mark in the upper right corner of the icon.
The outage was first reported by Telegram and WhatsApp users, who reported it was unavailable to Telegram users in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, though some users reported being able to access Telegram via a VPN.
Mikhail Klimarev, director of the Internet Protection Association,
The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Media of Russia later announced that these access disruptions were the result of a DDoS attack. 'At 14:00 on August 21, 2024, the Public Communications Network Monitoring and Management Center of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Media of Russia detected an outage affecting several services on Russian territory. The outage was the result of a DDoS attack against a Russian telecommunications operator. As of 15:00 Moscow time, the attack has been repelled and services are operating normally,' the statement read.
On the other hand, IT experts and activists have raised the possibility that the access outages may be the work of Russian authorities. Activist Mikhail Klimarev said, 'These kinds of access outages are placed when the authorities activate the so-called 'anti-messenger mode.'' Similar outages have been recorded in the Republics of Dagestan, Sakha and Bashkortostan, where protests and unrest have occurred in recent years, and 'I have a clear hunch that something has happened,' Klimarev said.
Sarkis Darbinyan, co-founder of the digital rights watchdog Roskomsvoboda, said the outage was the result of a 'focused effort.' Stanislav Shakirov, Roskomsvoboda's technology director, said Russian authorities' attempts to target Telegram may have had a knock-on effect on other websites and services, adding that 'similar outages were recorded in 2018.'
Although Russia issued an order banning the use of Telegram in April 2018, the ban was lifted in June 2020. After that, politicians and government agencies in Russia began to use Telegram to publish public information.
Russia lifts ban on messaging app 'Telegram' after two years ban - GIGAZINE
By Yuri Samoilov
In addition, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, YouTube has taken measures to block Russian state-run media YouTube channels , and in response, the Russian government has slowed YouTube's communication speed by up to 70%. The Russian government's measures to restrict access to YouTube only began at the end of July 2024.
Russian government announces that it will limit YouTube speed by 70% as a punishment for not succumbing to pressure from Russian authorities - GIGAZINE
Also, when WhatsApp became inaccessible in the Republic of Dagestan in July 2024, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that access restrictions were being imposed.
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