Russia has set up its own Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate authority to help Russians bypass website access issues as a result of global sanctions imposed on the country.

TLS is a cryptographic protocol that can provide data security sent between applications over the Internet. A TLS certificate helps a web browser confirm that a domain is a verified entity and that there is encryption between the user and the server.

A notice on Russia’s public service portal, Gosuslugi, says that it is offering these certificates to replace foreign security certificates if they’re expired or revoked.

Russia has been hit with sanctions and measures from many countries around the world, along with organisations in the tech and gaming sectors.

As a result of these sanctions, signing authorities in many countries will no longer be able to accept payment, which can leave many sites unable to renew their certificates. Once certificates expire, many browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox display warnings that the pages are not secure which can drive users away from the site, according to BleepingComputer.

While a domestic entity issuing TLS certificates could be a potential solution to this problem, it is unclear which browsers will accept the certificates.

Russia suffered a hit to its online traffic earlier this week, as US company Cogent Communications – reportedly the second largest internet carrier out of Russia – terminated services for clients in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Yesterday, internet service provider Lumen made the decision to cut off its connection to Russian customers “immediately” due to “increased security risk inside Russia”.

It is expected that Russia is planning limit its reliance on the global internet very soon. According to Kremlin documents, it is planning to disconnect from the global internet from today (11 March) onwards, Vice reported.

Ukraine cyberattacks

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was launched on multiple fronts including the digital world, as the country was hit by a massive cyberattack a month prior to the invasion, with the Ukrainian government suggesting its neighbour was behind the attack.

Cyberattacks on Ukraine have continued during the war, as Ukrainian internet service provider Triolan told Forbes that it has been hacked twice in recent months.

One source within the provider told Forbes that some of Triolan’s internal computers stopped working because the attackers managed to reset some devices back to factory settings. As a result of the attack, there are reports of internet outages occurring in parts of Ukraine.

According to cybersecurity group NetBlocks, Triolan was hacked on 24 February when the invasion began and again on 9 March.

In the days leading up to the invasion, there were reports of multiple cyberattacks hitting Ukrainian computers and websites, likely a form of hybrid warfare by Russia.

There has been a reported 25pc spike in cyberattacks around the world over the last two weeks, with Ukraine bearing the brunt of this activity. Cybersecurity companies are offering their services to US critical infrastructure organisations for free, in anticipation of a Russian cyberattack.

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