The head of the Russian department responsible for identifying threats to the “stability, security and integrity” of the internet, has revealed the extent of the Kremlin’s VPN crackdown. Former FSO officer Sergei Khutortsev, a central figure in Russia’s ‘sovereign internet’ project, confirmed that 167 VPN services are now blocked along with over 200 email services. Russia is also reported as stepping up measures against protocols such as OpenVPN, IKEv2 and WireGuard.
But it is not just Russia, as there is also the Great Wall of China, and to a lesser extent many other governments practice similar blocking or interceptions. Even the supposedly “free” governments also practice some forms of censorship (e.g. Australia), so actually the issue of privacy and access to information does really affect everyone.
The main article I’ve linked to below has some good guidance on how to overcome some common issues with VPNs being blocked. I realise it is still focused on China, but the suggestions would work as well anywhere else. I’ve also added a link to the EFF’s article about the use of Snowflake, as that was primarily intended to hide VPN activity where VPNs may be blocked.
Anyone thinking they may need such solutions in future, really should prepare today for such an event. It becomes far more difficult once the restrictions are already imposed.
See https://privacy.net/undetectable-vpn-bypass-blocks/ and also about Snowflake at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/snowflake-makes-it-easy-anyone-fight-censorship
Comments