Russia Tests New System for Blocking Telegram
Russia is currently testing a new system designed to completely block Telegram. On Thursday, August 30, Reuters reported this information, citing copies of relevant documents in its possession.
The testing of the new traffic analysis and filtering technology began on August 6 in the city of Reutov, using the networks of the company Rostelecom. The system is being tested by an interdepartmental commission that includes experts from Roskomnadzor, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, and the FSB.
According to the commission meeting minutes, during the tests, Roskomnadzor and the FSB planned to evaluate traffic filtering systems from several Russian companies: RDP.RU, ADM Systems, NTC Protei, DDoS-Guard, Napa Labs, Vas Experts, and Concern Avtomatika, which is part of the state corporation Rostec.
Anton Pinchuk, one of the owners of NTC Protei, confirmed that tests of the new traffic filtering system are indeed underway. However, his company declined to participate in the project due to the large scope of tasks and tight deadlines. Pinchuk stated that during the tests using Rostelecom’s networks, the Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology was required to recognize and block almost all known network protocols on a channel with speeds exceeding 1 Tbps.
The expert explained that Roskomnadzor is seeking an effective solution for analyzing, filtering, and blocking traffic that could be installed on the networks of telecom operators throughout Russia.
It is worth noting that recently, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Alexey Volin remarked that it is currently impossible to completely block anything on the internet.
What is Deep Packet Inspection?
Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is a technology for collecting statistical data, inspecting, and filtering network packets based on their content. Unlike firewalls, DPI analyzes not only packet headers but also the full content of traffic at OSI model layers two and above.