Ukrainian politician: Reduction in social network usage among Ukrainians will complicate the work of Russian special services
Although it is impossible to completely block Russian social networks, it would be an achievement if their audience was significantly restricted, which will reduce the possibility of data collection by Russian special services, as stated by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Dmytro Shymkiv, on Monday, as reported on 112 Ukraine's website.
"In actuality, it is impossible to block all (Russian websites) completely, and this is a fact. The blocking systems that exist at the URL and DNS level are very primitive and simple. There are options of analyzing traffic, which is more complicated. Further, control over the packets - when we start talking about the packet analysis, all these statements from millions and billions appear. You can cut off the audience of VKontakte with the help of URL, DNS, and traffic control," Shymkiv said.
According to him, the drop in traffic generated by the Ukrainian audience will complicate the work of Russian special services.
"At the same time, VPN and TOR are hiding a lot of your data, including geolocation. And it is a fact that this limits the possibility of data collection by Russian special services. This is a matter of limiting the audience as well. Already today, an outflow of users of Vkontakte could be seen. For us it is important to reduce the audience and I consider it as an achievement," Shymkiv stressed.
Previously it was reported that according to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on the application of economic and other sanctions, Ukraine imposed sanctions for the first time against Russian Internet and media companies such as Mail.ru Group, Yandex, VKontakte, and Odnoklassniki.
A number of Russian media also fell under the restrictive measures including the media holding RBC, Zvezda, TNT, Moscow Media, Russia Today (RIA Novosti), Nashe Radio, NTV-Plus , NTV, Channel One, Rossiya 24, RTR-Planeta, as well as the manufacturers of anti-virus software Kaspersky Lab and Doctor Web, and suppliers of popular ERP-systems 1C LLC, Parus LLC, JSC Galaktika Centre.