Syrian Internet Blackout Begins

[Subbversion]

*** THIS POST IS BEING UPDATED AS NEW INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE***
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http://www.renesys.com/blog/2012/11/...-the-air.shtml

As of this morning it appears a killswitch has been thrown and all internal based Syrian web has been turned off. This is a very recent development and I'm sure major news networks will follow shortly. This is affecting telephone service in the country as well. Air traffic into Damascus airports has halted. A communications blackout.

Calling this the worst Syrian communications disruption since the uprisings began over a year and a half ago, Reuters reports that the Assad's forces are said to be preparing for a "military showdown around Damascus."

"Rebels and activists said the fighting along the road to Damascus airport, southeast of the capital, was heavier in that area than at any other time in the conflict," writes Reuters. At the time of writing, only the Dubai-based Emirates airline had suspended flights into Damascus, per Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8AJ1FK20121129

Reuters reports that Syria's communication minister attributed the Internet outage to "terrorists."
"It is not true that the state cut the Internet. The terrorists targeted the Internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off," the official said according to a "pro-government TV station," per Reuters. He also said that work is underway to repair the damage.
http://live.reuters.com/Event/Syria/58026262

Syriatel (Arabic: سيري*ل‎) is a privately owned telecommunications company founded in 2000. It is owned by Rami Makhlouf, a first cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. Syriatel controls 55% of the local mobile telecommunication services market and has the largest subscriber base in Syria. Its network covers 99% of the populated areas. In 2008 Syriatel launched an Broadband Internet access service under the name "Surf".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriatel

Now, there are a few Syrian networks that are still connected to the Internet, still reachable by traceroutes, and indeed still hosting Syrian content. These are five networks that use Syrian-registered IP space, but the originator of the routes is actually Tata Communications. These are potentially offshore, rather than domestic, and perhaps not subject to whatever killswitch was thrown today within Syria.

These five offshore survivors include the webservers that were implicated in the delivery of malware targeting Syrian activists in May of this year.

Google's Transparency Report, which monitors real-time global Internet traffic to Google products like YouTube and Gmail is also displaying a sudden halt to Internet activity in Syria beginning on the morning of November 29. Google says data from its Transparency Report "visualizes disruptions in the free flow of information, whether it's a government blocking information or a cable being cut." At the time of writing, Google said that all its services were inaccessible in Syria.
http://www.google.com/transparencyre...=1354210200000

77 networks experienced an outage in Syria starting at 10:26 UTC on November 29. This represents 92% of the routed networks in the country.

100% of the networks in this event reached the Internet through: Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (AS29386).

This event continues a sequence of recent events in Syria affecting many of the same networks. At publication, we have seen:
14:14 UTC on November 27 – a restoration of 14 networks
12:08 UTC on November 27 – an outage of 9 networks
Summary statistics on the event are as follows:
date/time 2012-Nov-29 10:26:30 UTC
primary geography Syria
primary organization Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (AS29386)
severity 92% of the routed networks in the country

http://www.renesys.com/eventsbulleti...354184790.html


There may be some possible connection the Israel-Palestine ceasefire which began around the same time. There may not be.
http://blog.cloudflare.com/ceasefire...-end-cyberwars

A representative of EgyptAir in Cairo told The Times that flights to Damascus, the Syrian capital, were suspended indefinitely and it was not clear when they would resume again. One opposition activist noted that an online flight-tracking Web site showed a blank spot over Syria.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/201...lede&seid=auto






For reference, he's some information regarding Egypt's major internet blackout during/prior to their revolts. History repeats itself, this time in a very short timeframe.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...459908692.html





To explain how this might happen internally, let us take a look at what Egypt did:

“It looks like they’re taking action at two levels,” Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro told me. “First at the DNS level, so any attempt to resolve any address in .eg will fail — but also, in case you’re trying to get directly to an address, they are also using the Border Gateway Protocol, the system through which ISPs advertise their Internet protocol addresses to the network. Many ISPs have basically stopped advertising any internet addresses at all.”

Essentially, we’re talking about a system that no longer knows where anything is. Outsiders can’t find Egyptian websites, and insiders can’t find anything at all. It’s as if the postal system suddenly erased every address inside America — and forgot that it was even called America in the first place.

A complete border shutdown might have been easier, but Egypt has made sure that there should be no downstream impact, no loss of traffic in countries further down the cables. That will ease the diplomatic and economic pressure from other nations, and make it harder for protesters inside the country to get information in and out.

http://gigaom.com/2011/01/28/how-egy...-the-internet/

[SirRobin]

And now the chemical weapon attacks begin.

[Reeve]

Wow, that's really sad. I didn't realize a government could just do something like this so easily.

[smelltheglove]

And now the chemical weapon attacks begin.

hoping you're wrong here... but it doesnt look good, does it?

[Urti]

I'm honestly surprised it took this long. I figured the Assad regime would have done this back when the international media started reporting about the heavy shelling and indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian centers. Not a good sign, shady things are afoot.

[Puremallace]

And now the chemical weapon attacks begin.

They call it a red line for a reason. We have the ability to blast Assad back to the stone age and China and Russia would not be able to say shit.

[Systam]

O crap, somethings big is probably about to go down.

I feel bad for the innocent people who keep dying over this and are targeted so much

[Deleted]

And now the chemical weapon attacks begin.

If that actually happens, I foresee a country with destruction not comparable to anything else in history.

[SirRobin]

They call it a red line for a reason. We have the ability to blast Assad back to the stone age and China and Russia would not be able to say shit.

Which would mean that the regime should cut off their targets' ability to communicate with the outside world as much as possible before beginning such attacks. Assad's back is against the wall and pulling out all the stops is about the only chance he has left. The biggest question at this point would be if those who would actually carry out the attacks will be willing to do it.

[SirRobin]

If that actually happens, I foresee a country with destruction not comparable to anything else in history.

Not really. The Iran-Iraq war saw chemical weapons used. Saddam used them against the Kurds. It all depends on just how far you, and your cronies, are willing to go.

[Deleted]

edit: Sorry, I realize you already posted a similar article about the Syrian Information Minister's statements.

[dd614]

They call it a red line for a reason. We have the ability to blast Assad back to the stone age and China and Russia would not be able to say shit.

Who made you the world's police? It's none of our business what happens in Syria.

[smelltheglove]

yau, i think you've done a hell of a job presenting the info available and keeping crazy conclusions and bias out of it. thank you. you obviously have a far better feel for the pulse of this situation than i do, would you keep updating as more comes out please? i am interested, and concerned, and would like to know more as it comes. thank you again

[Subbversion]

yau, i think you've done a hell of a job presenting the info available and keeping crazy conclusions and bias out of it. thank you. you obviously have a far better feel for the pulse of this situation than i do, would you keep updating as more comes out please? i am interested, and concerned, and would like to know more as it comes. thank you again

I will update constantly as these updates become available. Thank you.

[Deleted]

It all depends on just how far you, and your cronies, are willing to go.

Exactly, and we all know by now that Assad isn't really the most merciful guy on the planet.

[Deleted]

If no nation actually does anything, Syria will become the next North Korea. And then we'll wonder why nobody did anything. Put the ego of some nation and the hatred of others kind of gets in the way.

[Sealed Shut]

Who made you the world's police? It's none of our business what happens in Syria.

mhm... and after millions of innocent people in Syria are slaughtered the question will be "where was the US/UN when this why happening?", "why didn't they do anything to stop it?"
it's a damned if we do, damned if we don't. so if we're damned either way, can we at least save the lives of millions?

[vizzle]

Who made you the world's police? It's none of our business what happens in Syria.

If your neighbor is beating his wife every night, and you can hear it through the walls and you can see her bruises every morning, are you not going to do anything about it? I mean, if not the US then the UN (preferably UN imo), but you can't just let it keep happening when you have the power to stop it.

[Kaiser499]

We can't police everywhere nor should we.

[Olo]

If your neighbor is beating his wife every night, and you can hear it through the walls and you can see her bruises every morning, are you not going to do anything about it? I mean, if not the US then the UN (preferably UN imo), but you can't just let it keep happening when you have the power to stop it.

lol, what is the UN going to do? Issue a strong condemnation?

Unfortunately, if he does use chemical weapons and the US feels obligated to get involved it’ll mean at the very least, SpecOps on the ground