The Russian government is about to begin testing its own internal Internet in order to determine whether the country’s information sharing networks can be isolated from the World Wide Web.
Testing of the network is set to begin in November, and will see the “world wide web” temporarily replaced with a national system known as “RuNet”. Reports state that further testing is to begin annually, with the exercise being designed to “ensure the stable, safe and holistic functioning of the Internet and public communications networks in the Russian Federation.”
Russia claims that the separation from regular internet will provide more protection against cyber attacks.
The controversial bill that will allow Moscow to segregate the “RuNet” Internet from foreign servers if it chooses was passed back in April, allowing the bill to become set in stone on November 1.
Samuel Bendett of the American Foreign Policy Council told Defense One that “the Russian authorities see their reliance on foreign IT as a major weak point, and are therefore keen to increase their level of control over the information that is shared using this technology.”
While connected to the World Wide Web, Russia remains vulnerable to external threats, but “in the event of what the government sees as outside influence affecting RuNet, the state can act hence the annual exercise,” Bendett explained. If this went ahead it would mean Internet service providers would have to disconnect from any foreign servers using www and use a different DNS instead.
