Internet, Wireline Media Targeted in Russian Conflict with Georgia
Four days of attacks on government and online media Web sites have targeted Georgian and international servers in the U.S. and Europe, said Georgia’s largest ISP. Russia could cut off international voice and other traffic if it called a general embargo, an industry source said. A fiber link project expected to connect Georgia directly with Western Europe, skirting Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, is only two months from completion, the ISP said. The Russian Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications didn’t respond immediately to phone call and e-mail queries about the claims.
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Denial of service attacks disabled nearly every Georgian government Web site, said a source in the country’s National Communications Commission. Many official sites were cracked and are offline, commission sources said. IP addresses from the pool of Russian providers were used in denial of service attacks on Georgian government sites, a commission official said. The attackers identities are unknown, commission officials said. “Probably that was done by the [Russian] government, because nearly all Georgian government official sites are crashed,” a commission official said.
Up to 35 percent of 309 network prefixes geo-located to Georgia vanished from the Internet, some for long periods but not permanently, the Internet research firm Renesys said in a blog. Up to 60 percent were unstable, Renesys said. The prefixes originate from 26 Autonomous Systems, Renesys said. Fiber cables for Internet traffic tend to follow pipelines, bridges, and rail lines, Renesys said. Lost Internet connectivity can imply destruction of these other routes of communication.
Georgia relies on Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia for connectivity over land, Renesys said. Georgia’s largest ISP and long distance provider, Caucasus Online, contracted last year for a direct fiber link under the Black Sea to Western Europe. The Black Sea cable will spur competition for traffic from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and beyond, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Web site. The bank bought 5 percent of Caucasus Online as part of the deal.
The Black Sea project was to be finished in about two months, said Artur Torosyan, a public-relations official with Caucasus Online. The company hired Tyco Telecommunications to lay the cable, Tyco said in September 2007. Tyco pulled its crews out of the area and is assessing the situation, said Victoria Dillon, the company’s director of communications. “We don’t believe we have damage to the system,” Dillon said. A more precise assessment is expected within days, she said.
Some media Web sites and almost all of the government’s have been under “heavy attacks” since Friday, Torosyan said. Caucasus Online provides 80 percent of Internet, international calls and general communication in Georgia, though not mobile communications, Torosyan said. The attacks have come from a worldwide botnet, about 80 percent of which is in Russian Federation territory, he said. Russia has tried to raise cybersecurity discussions to the international level in the U.N. for 10 years (CD April 28 p9). Parts of the Internet in Georgia go down periodically “for some minutes,” Torosyan said.
“It’s some kind of war happening here… trying to defend all our equipment, our network,” Torosyan said. Equipment in two or three of the 24 towns with company gear is lost each day as service goes down locally through physical or cyber attacks, Torosyan said. Queries to the Georgian Research and Educational Networking Association and CERT Georgia were not immediately returned.
Rustavi 2 Broadcasting’s Web site was hit especially hard, Torosyan said. After Rustavi 2 went down, a Georgian news Web site was targeted, he said, adding that about 90 percent of the country’s news sites are under attack. Government Web sites were attacked and hacked, and content was changed on some, Torosyan said.
“Rustavi 2 moved their Web site to some American server,” which came under similar attacks, Torosyan said. Rustavi 2 couldn’t be reached Monday for comment. At least one other site moved to a European server and subsequently was disabled, Torosyan said. Mirrors on foreign servers also were attacked, he said.
International connections for VoIP and other services have held up, Torosyan said. “The public network is intact,” said an industry source. Local operators are working without service interruption, said an official at the Georgian National Communications Commission. No customers or operators have submitted complaints about international calls, said the commission source.
The Georgian network’s connectivity problems and generally poor quality don’t result from international conflict, the industry source said. The country’s incumbent provider, United Telecom of Georgia, is about 15 years behind most of Europe, the source said. Georgia needs help getting out from under Russia’s shadow and to break through “the Chinese wall” encircling it, said a source working on the Georgian telecom network. Improving certain “very basic tasks” would boost their international connectivity, the industry source said.
Georgia depends heavily on Rostelecom for voice, said the source. “If the Russians decide to play hardball, they can simply cut them off,” said the source, declining to be identified amid the hostilities. Georgia does “not expect serious problems from Rostelecom unless there is a general embargo,” he said.