The fight against VPN services may affect Russian IT companies
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The Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council asked Roskomnadzor to check more than 50 VPN services that are located in application stores and are available to Russians, and also to block them if violations are detected. The list was created based on the list of applications that the Russian store NashStore had already removed. This list also includes the product of the Russian IT company in the field of data protection “CryptoPro NGate”. The company claims that using their application does not allow you to bypass blocking.
Kommersant got acquainted with the letter from the deputy chairman of the council for the development of the digital economy under the Federation Council, Artem Sheikin, sent to the head of Roskomnadzor Andrey Lipov. In it, the senator asks to check 51 VPN services that need to be blocked in Russia. In particular, such services provide access to the social networks Facebook and Instagram (owned by Meta, whose activities in running services are recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and are prohibited), the letter notes.
Artem Sheikin also draws attention to the fact that “a number of Russian application stores checked the services hosted by them and excluded some of them.” We are talking about the Russian application store NashStore (ANO Digital Platforms). Also in Russia are RuStore (developed by VK, public VPN services are not represented in the catalog) and RuMarket (launched by the CEO of the Bibi taxi aggregator in Russia Anatoly Smorgonsky, VPNs are not represented). However, VPN services removed from Russian stores are currently still available to citizens in foreign stores, notes Mr. Sheikin. He clarified to Kommersant that the list of services for possible blocking was formed based on applications that had already been removed from Russian stores. It includes such services as VPN Master – Super VPN, VPN – Keons, VPN Turbo, Atomic VPN, Pride VPN, etc. Also included in the list is the solution of Russian developers of information security tools – CryptoPro NGate from the CryptoPro company. Roskomnadzor confirmed receipt of the letter and said that they are constantly analyzing, updating the list of VPNs operating in Russia, and limiting the work of those who violate the law.
VPN is a technology that allows you to combine devices remote from each other into one private network.
Public VPN services are marketed as a way to bypass blocks, but organizations set up VPNs to connect computers, phones, ATMs, etc., located in different locations or regions. Government agencies, personal data operators and financial institutions must use certified VPNs with GOST encryption.
Mobile applications “CryptoPro NGate” are used to connect to NGate hardware servers, which the customer can buy and deploy on their networks, as follows from the product description. The Kommersant company reported that CryptoPro NGate is not a VPN, it is the client part of a FSB-certified cryptographic information protection tool intended for use primarily by corporate customers. Using the application in itself does not make it possible to bypass blocking, explains Pavel Lutsik, director of business development and work with partners at CryptoPro.
The purpose of blocking VPN services is to prohibit access to information resources in foreign segments of the Internet. The chief specialist of the department of integrated information security systems at Gazinformservice, Dmitry Ovchinnikov, suggests that the CryptoPro product was included in the list for verification only because the client software was placed in the application store in the traffic filtering services section. In general, “CryptoPro Ngate” is one of many cryptographic gateways on the Russian market and competes with “Infotex”, “S-Terra”, “Security Code” and many other lesser known ones, lists Dmitry Ovchinnikov. Kryptonit CEO Vartan Khachaturov believes that blocking CryptoPro NGate could disrupt the business continuity of companies using it.
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