Russian demand for VPNs skyrockets by 2,692%
- Reference: 1647358207
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/15/russian_demand_for_vpns/
- Source link:
VPNs, of course, create private tunnels that obscure what someone does online and allows a connected machine to appear as though it's located in a different country. This explains the massive surge, especially in Russia, where access to popular social media sites and news services have been cut off.
"VPN demand was resurgent in Russia going into the weekend of March 12-13 as the Russian authorities banned Instagram in retaliation for parent company Meta permitting calls to violence against the Russian military to remain on its platforms," Top10VPN's Simon Migliano wrote.
[2]
Russian VPN usage peaked (as of publication) on March 14, with a 2,692 percent increase over average daily demand (measured in the week leading up to the invasion of Ukraine). Usage had been rising toward those numbers for several days, with the three days prior logging demand peaks of 1,394, 1,814, and 2,088 percent.
[3]Nominet suspends 'single digit' number of Russian dot-UK domain registrars
[4]Russia's invasion of Ukraine tears open political rift between cybercriminals
[5]Viasat, Rosneft hit by cyberattacks as Ukraine war spills online
[6]Brit techie shows us life in Ukraine amid Russian invasion
Before the recent activity, which may have been fueled by Russia's [7]Instagram ban , numbers were still on the rise. The ban of Facebook and Twitter on March 4 caused a jump of 1,000 percent, and internet speed throttling in late February led to a spike as well.
Ukrainian use of VPNs peaked at 609 percent on March 2, toward the beginning of the conflict. VPN demand in Ukraine rose by 544 percent in the days leading up to Russia's invasion, and more recently dropped, though still far above baseline at 389 percent increased demand over the weeks prior to the war.
[8]
"Whenever authoritarian regimes around the world try to control the populace by disrupting internet access, people turn to Virtual Private Networks in order to circumvent restrictions," Migliano said. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.top10vpn.com/research/vpn-demand-statistics/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YjDGOoeVqQAvRzM@I3s@bQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/15/nominet_suspends_russian_registrars/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/15/cyberciminals_russia_ukraine/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/viasat_rosneft_ukraine_cyberattacks/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/lviv_ukraine_pics_from_ground/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/russia_meta/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YjDGOoeVqQAvRzM@I3s@bQAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Yes
"Approximately 28-fold increase" would be a better way of putin it
Twevelty.
Not yet banned
Given how incredibly easy some VPNs can be used, I'm really surprised they're not yet entirely banned from the Poutinstan.
Is the new Führer not yet aware of this ?
Can't be that difficult to block it entirely ...
Re: Not yet banned
You can probably easily pick-out the IPSec & Wireguard based VPNs based on ports/protocols, but the SSL ones that run over port 443, et al are much harder to identify from normal HTTPS web traffic. (And don't forgot an awful lot of stuff is now shoe-horned to run over HTTPS so your heuristics have to be pretty good to pick out just VPN traffic.)
Isn't it all his troll farms trying to get back to work?
VPN = Vladimir Putin Network?
Hmmm...
Looking through their "top 5" I'm not so sure that Top10VPNs top list really takes privacy assurance seriously - over speed, number of global endpoints, and being able to un-geo-block your Netflix account. There are 2 in that list where it has been reported that have provided security agencies with user data, and one that was used by a criminal where he was identified and caught when the VPN in question dropped without him knowing, and had DNS leaks.
Choosing a VPN is a minefield I know, but their top 5 list looks a bit "sponsored" to me.
YMMV of course.
Obviously...
Western media keeps harping on about how ordinary Russians are completely unaware about what's going on in Ukraine. In reality, they probably know a darn sight more than the talking heads!
Re: Obviously...
Western talking heads, like every talking head in the world, say whatever the producer tells them, nothing new here.
Pro tip. Quoting statistics to 4 significant figures doesn't make your press-releases look more credible. Just the opposite.