Russian Federation to disconnect from the internet as part of a planned test

Russian president Vladimir Putin once called the internet ‘a CIA project’ and his cabinet ministers back the proposed legislation

Russian Federation is considering whether to disconnect from the global internet briefly, as part of a test of its cyber-defences.

The test, expected to be carried out before April 1, will see whether online data can be passed between citizens and organizations inside the country without having to be routed internationally, the report said.

The reason for the experiment is to gather insight and provide feedback and modifications to a proposed law introduced in the Russian Parliament in December 2018.

The new law states that state internet providers must be ready to ensure Russia's internet runs smoothly and independently in the event of a foreign attack that disconnects the country from the web.

A group of major private and state telecoms led by Natalya Kaspersky, co-founder of Kaspersky Lab antivirus maker, have chose to conduct the test to disconnect "Runet" from the rest of the internet before April 1 - the deadline for amendments to legislation that would ostensibly allow Russian Federation to protect itself from foreign aggression in the digital sphere.

In addition, Russian telecom firms would also have to install "technical means" to re-route all Russian internet traffic to exchange points approved or managed by Roskomnazor, Russia's telecom watchdog.

While Russia has deftly used the internet to advance its own interests, it is apparently concerned about other countries deploying its own tactics, so it is preparing to "disconnect" from the internet, ZDNet reports.

The Russian government has been working on this project for years. An alternative localised DNS would allow Runet to function without access to servers located across the world.

Roskomnadzor would reportedly pay for the installation of whatever tools are necessary under this plan-meaning the Russian government would pay for a new infrastructure that will give it more control over the internet within the country, allowing Russia to get closer to the kind of internet regulation that exists under the Great Firewall of China.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation nations recently said they planned to hit Russian Federation with a stronger response to its own cyber attacks. The government would create a Russian version of DNS, the address system for the internet.

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