Kremlin blames widespread website disruptions on DDoS attack; digital experts disagree

Russian users reported disruptions on Wednesday in accessing several popular digital platforms, including messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the gaming platform Steam and, according to some accounts, the adult website PornHub.

Russia's internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, blamed the disruption on a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incident targeting Russian telecom operators. However, local digital experts disagree, arguing that it is impossible to organize a DDoS attack on all 2,000 Russian telecom operators simultaneously.

ℹ️ Note: Metrics show a brief disruption to WhatsApp in #Russia corroborating reports of outages of messaging services also affecting Telegram; regulator Roskomnadzor claims the issue is due to a "DDoS attack" pic.twitter.com/5dCGW7nbps

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) August 21, 2024

In comments to Russian media, several of the largest telecom operators, including MegaFon, Rostelecom and VimpelCom, stated that their networks were operating normally.

The services affected by the disruption include the video call app Skype, the chat and gaming platform Discord, the Russian social network VKontakte, the video live-streaming service Twitch, and Apple's App Store. A local service that tracks website and app disruptions in Russia was also unavailable.

The messaging app Telegram also faced disruptions in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Serbia, according to user complaints.

Such internet disruptions are common in Russia and are usually deliberately caused by the authorities to censor local users' access to Western platforms. 

Earlier in July, Russia said it was slowing YouTube's loading speeds in response to Google's refusal to comply with Russian tech regulations. In August, Russia blocked the encrypted messaging app Signal for violating laws linked to anti-terrorist operations.

Mikhail Klimarev, director of the Russian Internet Protection Society, suggested that the latest disruptions were also caused by the authorities. According to Stanislav Shakirov, co-founder and technical director of the Russian digital rights organization Roskomsvoboda, Roskomnadzor likely tried to block Telegram, which inadvertently impacted other services.

Similar disruptions have occurred before. In January, social media apps Telegram and WhatsApp were disrupted in the remote Russian region of Bashkortostan, where hundreds of people protested against the sentencing of a local activist.

In July, WhatsApp reportedly faced disruptions in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The local authorities were allegedly slowing access to the app over the platform’s refusal to curb the spread of "calls to participate in extremist actions."

Russia has been targeting Telegram since at least 2018, despite the app being founded by a Russian entrepreneur and widely used by local politicians and state-owned media.

Earlier in August, Russian President Vladimir Putin was offered a meeting with Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Azerbaijan but declined the invitation.