Since it started Russian invasion of Ukraine, the handling of the information has sparked a separate war between Vladimir Putin’s government and the rest of the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that those living in Russia have adopted the use of tools for bypass the major Western media blockade.
according to CloudflareRussian netizens They have chosen various tools to avoid censorship and access news media from the UK, France and the US. The data is accompanied by statistics that show a marked increase in the use of software and applications to surf the web privately and without restrictions.
In other countries, the most downloaded iOS and Android apps in the first half of March were games and social networks. In Russia, on the other hand, the first place goes to WARP/1.1.1.1; we talk about DNS resources developed by Cloudflare itself, which exploded in popularity on Russian soil after the war in Ukraine broke out.
According to the information provided by the application, users who connect from Russia do so to avoid the official block and thus reached the Western news media. Peak use occurs several weeks after the invasion begins; since then there has been a decline, but its use continues at a much higher rate than before the start of the war.
According to the data obtained, the use of utilities such as WARP/1.1.1.1 from Russia has made it possible traffic five times to “a recognized American newspaper”, to cite an example.
The war in Ukraine and the battle for information
Beyond what’s going on with the utility itself, Cloudflare also mentions another app that’s been the most downloaded from the App Store and Play Store since the Ukraine war started. They are mostly VPN and messaging service that allows private communication, such as Telegram.
It is clear that controlling the narrative of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict is something that goes beyond what happens on the battlefield. Moreover, not everyone in Russia agrees with what has happened since late February on Ukrainian territory; and so that not a few are looking for different point of view with Kremlin-sponsored outlets such as RT and Sputnik.
Let’s remember that since the invasion of Russian military forces began, big platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Spotify ban the official Russian news media. In retaliation, Putin’s government blocked access to the world’s most important social network and even suppressed those who edited the Wikipedia page dedicated to the war in Ukraine. Versions are also circulating that Russia is being studied to completely disconnect from the Internet, something that hasn’t happened so far (and it’s unlikely to happen).
Another great news is that Cloudflare has detected—and blocked— significant increase in DDoS attacks originating from Russian networks. And while he mentioned that it is very difficult to attribute these cybersecurity threats because many are launched remotely, they have been a very used resource during the Ukraine war.
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