Russia disconnected itself from the rest of the internet, a test of its new defense from cyber warfare, report says

Russian successfully tested disconnecting itself from the global internet, according to a report by the RBC Daily business newspaper.

RBC Daily says it obtained documents and spoke to sources who told them that the tests were conducted from June 15 to July 15  — and worked.

One source told the outlet that the tests included Russian physically disconnecting its networks from the worldwide internet. 

The regular internet is decentralized and not under the control of any single entity, making it hard for countries to restrict how it is used.

In 2019, Russia's "sovereign internet" law came into effect, which gave the government power to disconnect the country from the global internet in face of a cyberattack. 

Because the law is vague over what constitutes a threat, critics said it was a step towards the heavily-restricted model of internet use enforced in China.

One part of the law was a requirement that Russian internet service providers (ISPs) install "deep package inspection" (DPI) tools within the country.

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