Russia has seen a sharp increase in restrictions on censorship circumvention tools following the completion of the State Duma elections. Around ten specialized projects reported large-scale technical difficulties over the past week. Users across the country have begun complaining en masse about the inability to establish a secure connection via both mobile internet and home Wi-Fi.
How technical specialists adapt
Representatives of several major services confirmed that the restrictions peaked at the end of the workweek, when access to servers became completely blocked. To restore functionality, engineers have to quickly change IP addresses and migrate infrastructure to new foreign locations. In some cases, entire IP pools and all available foreign locations were blocked.
New methods of countering block circumvention
Industry experts note a shift in the nature of the restrictions, which are now being implemented in batches based on pre-compiled lists of IP addresses and entire subnets. Data for these lists may be gathered by scanning networks and through domestic software that collects information about active circumvention tools on user devices.
Although completely stopping the operation of such tools is technically extremely difficult, the new measures make their use more expensive and unstable. Users will more frequently encounter failures and have to switch protocols, while authorities may return to discussing additional tariffs on foreign mobile traffic.
With the HiroVPN service, users are protected from such issues thanks to the prompt adaptation of servers to any changes in network restrictions.
