internet blackouts skyrocket amid global unrest

#Internet blackouts skyrocket amid global unrest Offline

So, by compromising these devices en masse and turning them into a “botnet” army, hackers can completely overwhelm segments of the internet, channeling traffic to a single service until it’s overwhelmed and can no longer function. Put another way, they’re not hard to hack. As many studies have documented, IoT devices typically have terrible security features, such as basic passwords and minimal encryption. Which is to say: As countries around the world tighten control of the internet within their borders, we can expect to see some governments with relatively centralized internets-particularly authoritarians or those with authoritarian leanings-literally disconnect their domestic internet networks from the rest of the globe during domestic unrest or other incidents.Īs for the second method, we can expect a rise in DDoS attacks against internet infrastructure as millions of wildly insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices-from smart thermostats to water-pressure sensors-are linked online. More than that, if a single entity controls-or can at least access-that hardware for a region or even an entire country, government-caused internet blackouts are a tempting method of censorship and social control. If these physical elements cease to function, from a cut wire to a storm-damaged server farm, the internet, too, is affected.

And while this is perhaps useful in some contexts, this line of thinking forgets the very real wires, servers, and other hardware that form the architecture of the internet. When we think about terms like “cyberspace” and “internet,” it can be tempting to associate them with vague notions of a digital world we can’t touch.

#Internet blackouts skyrocket amid global unrest Offline

In 2018, Mauritania was taken entirely offline for two days when undersea submarine internet cables were cut, around the same time as the Sierra Leone government may have imposed an internet blackout in the same region. In 2014, Syria had a major internet outage amid its civil war. In 2007, the Burmese government apparently damaged an underwater internet cable in order to “staunch the flow of pictures and messages from protesters reaching the outside world.” In 2011, Egypt cut most internet and cell services within its borders as the government attempted to quell protests against then-President Hosni Mubarak Libya then did the same after its own unrest. In 2004, the Maldivian government caused an internet blackout when citizens protested the president Nepal similarly caused a blackout shortly thereafter. The first method-states deliberately severing internet connections within their country-has an important history. Above all, both will force policymakers everywhere to reckon with the fact that the internet itself is increasingly becoming centralized-and therefore increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, making everyone less safe. In fact, we’ll likely see a rise in internet blackouts in 2019, for two reasons: countries deliberately “turning off” the internet within their borders, and hackers disrupting segments of the internet with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. (Both incidents, ironically, took place after I outlined this piece.) And it’s unlikely that these will be the last “internet blackouts” we hear about over the coming months. Not even a week later, on January 7, Gabon’s government did the same after an attempted coup. The reason? To avoid the “chaos” that might result from its presidential election results. On the first day of the new year, the Democratic Republic of Congo cut internet connections and SMS services nationwide-for the second day in a row.