Several large communication platforms, including WhatsApp and Telegram , were at the center of a DDoS attack in Russia that caused a large-scale shutdown today . The news, learned by the Russian news agency Tass from the Federal Service for Monitoring Communications Roskomnadzor, was then picked up by authoritative international agencies such as Reuters.
The Center for Monitoring and Control of Public Communications Networks has recorded the disruption of a number of services on Russian territory starting at 2 p.m. local time (1 p.m. in Italy, ed.), Roskomnadzor told Tass. The circumstance is attributable to a DDoS attack against Russian communication operators. At 3 p.m. Moscow time (2 p.m. in Italy, ed.) the attack was repelled and the services returned to normal operation.
In addition to WhatsApp and Telegram, it seems that the attack has affected other “big” of the web such as Wikipedia, Skype and Discord . In Italy there have been no discontinuities. The note sent by Roskomnadzor is devoid of indications of the possible culprits. For a few weeks now in Moscow and its surroundings there have been more than a few problems with Western online platforms. At the beginning of August it was YouTube’s turn , even if in that case the cause seemed to be linked to a specific action of the Kremlin, rather than to technical problems or cyber attacks. Other “trouble” involved, again at the beginning of the month, the instant messaging app Signal .
Both Telegram ( of the “dissident” Durov ) and WhatsApp, like the other Meta platforms, are not so to speak well-liked by the Kremlin. Facebook and Instagram for example are banned, although the Russians, if they want, can bypass the restrictions quite easily using a virtual private network, a VPN .
