ONI_CIS_2016.pdfVIP

CIS Overview Over the past four years the scale and reach of the Internet in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has continued to expand. As it has grown, a vibrant cyber cul- ture has emerged, strengthened by a Soviet legacy, which has bequeathed the region with Russian as a lingua franca and common cultural and historical reference that con- tinues to bridge the national boundaries between the former Soviet states. Commensurate with its growth, the Internet domain in the CIS has emerged as a dy- namic and complex environment in which states, cyber criminals, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individuals actively collude and compete. The region is currently driving the evolution of next-generation information controls encompassing legal regulation as well as innovative tactics such as the alleged use of third-party actors to generate crowd sourced denial of service attacks and other offensive means. These control tactics shape the information space through competition, rather than tradi- tional filtering. There are also indications that these tactics and techniques are now be- ing adopted in other regions. Consequently, since the last OpenNet Initiative (ONI) volume, Access Denied, the CIS region has provided a number of new developments in information controls. The region witnessed two cyberwars. The first was a campaign by pro-Russian (and allegedly state- sponsored) hackers, which paralyzed the Estonian Internet in May 2007. The second 120 CIS Overview was a similar campaign (also allegedly organized by nationalist pro-government Rus- sian hackers) that occurred at the same time as major combat operations in Georgia (August 2008). The latter campaign targeting Georgian online media and government Web sites led Georgian authorities to filter access to Russian Internet s