Key facts:
Russia to upgrade Threat Countermeasures System (TSPU)
RuNet employs technical means to filter, block and slow down Internet traffic.
According to Forbes Russia, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications and Technologies could spend 600 million dollars to modernize the blocking system of RuNet, the Russian intranet.
An intranet is a computer network using Internet Protocol technology with its own information, services and operating systems. The main feature of an intranet is that it is private, and access to it can be mediated by criteria of territory, membership, rank and others. RuNet is a dedicated intranet for Russian citizens within Russia.
The platforms that are expected to be upgraded and improved with the investment include “a unified platform for combating fraudsters, which is expected to be developed with the participation of operators and banks, and a system for blocking phishing sites.” The investment in these Russian systems is scheduled to take place between 2025 and 2030.
Centralized telecommunications control services
The blocking system that will receive the investment from the Federal Service is a “technical means of countering threats” (TSPU) which can be applied against internet traffic to filter, block and slow it down. According to the halfexperts agree that this measure is aimed at virtual private networks (VPNs). As CriptoNoticias reported, VPNs serve to route the user’s private browsing information, modifying the IP and protecting their data.
The update of these digital defense systems by Roskomnadzor (RKN)as the Federal Supervision Service is also called, is part of a larger national project called “data economy and digital transformation of the state.”
Such systems, TSPUs, are installed on the networks and servers of all Russian telecommunications and Internet operators, according to with a national law according to which RuNet is a sovereign network. That is to say, RuNet It operates separately and independently from the decentralized set of global, public, interconnected communications networks (the Internet).
Also, according to the media, Roskomnadzor has exclusive access to services installed on the networks of telecom operators. This means that TSPUs function as black boxes of information that can only be opened by RKN, since the operators claim not to know what the federal service does with them. With them, RKN can block sites without operator participationexercising centralized control over all telecommunications companies.
In fact, installing TSPUs on operators’ networks relieves them of the responsibility of manually blocking resources. Blocking programs do this automatically.
VPNs are in the crosshairs in Russia
According to an interviewee of the Russian media, TSPUs in their current version are not capable of blocking modern VPN services.
Based on measurements by technical specialists, the current version of TSPU is believed to be able to detect and block signatures of several types of VPN protocols (OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard). However, in addition to these, there are dozens of other protocols and services that TSPU cannot track at the moment.
Stanislav Seleznev, cyber lawyer
However, modernization of TSPUs could increase the effectiveness of these systems. to stop virtual private network protocols that are inaccessible today.
The centralized control exercised by TSPUs over information aims to control access to unwanted content on the Internet.
Unwanted content includes child pornography, information about drugs, suicide methods, online casinos, etc. All of these are punishable by the Child Protection Act in Russia.
