Russian regional internet service provider Nodex was almost completely destroyed in an attack by a Ukrainian hacking group. Nodex confirmed the attack in a statement on the Russian social network VK, saying its network had been “destroyed” and Work is underway to restore the infrastructure from backup.
A hacking group called Ukraine Cyber Alliance took credit for the attack. It said the hacker group St. Nodex, based in Petersburg. “Robbed and completely wiped out… while the equipment is empty Without backup, it's theirs.” Cyberattacks have long been the purview of countries such as Russia and North Korea, using them to infiltrate domestic infrastructure such as power grids. and in the case of North Korea Even stealing cryptocurrency to fund the development of nuclear weapons.
Tech Crunch It previously reported on the Ukrainian attack and wrote that Nodex was still offline Wednesday evening.
The attack comes as Russia continues to test the possibility of cutting off its citizens from the global internet. to support its own restricted sovereignty network Last year, Roskomnadzor, Russia's federal internet regulator, Restricted access to the internet worldwide for one day in many regions of the country Especially in areas with a majority Muslim population. It even prevents the VPN from accessing servers outside the country.
The Kremlin wants to manage the flow of information available to citizens during the ongoing war with Ukraine. Information about the war was heavily censored. There is severe punishment for referring to this war as anything other than. “Special Operations”
YouTube is still accessible in Russia But with regular crashes and significant slowdowns. which critics say is the result of intentional throttling by the government to prevent viewing certain content Russia hopes to cut down on out-of-control websites. The public will not be stumbling upon content that contradicts the Kremlin's narrative. and will consider only views that are considered acceptable News operations that propagate Western ideas, such as Radio Free Europe and online influence campaigns through social media, could be halted if Russians are cut off from their access.
In other words, attacks on internet networks by Ukrainian groups may not be effective in the long run. If Russia moves forward by unplugging its ISPs from the rest of the world, it will fragment the world into disconnected silos.