Russia postpones sovereign internet test over coronavirus

Russia due to coronavirus has postponed a test designed to improve the ability of its domestic internet infrastructure to cope with being cut off from the global network, the Communications Ministry said on Friday, TASS reported. The test, planned for March 20, had been aimed at developing ways to block certain types of encrypted web traffic, the TASS news agency said.

"Planned exercises were postponed due to the strengthening of measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection," the ministry was quoted as saying. A revised schedule for the drills would be approved soon, it said.

Russia began testing its internet infrastructure in December after President Vladimir Putin signed what became known as the "sovereign internet" law. That, Moscow said, said was a response to what it called an aggressive cyber security strategy adopted by the United States. The law aimed to route Russia's web traffic and data through points controlled by state authorities and to build a national Domain Name System.

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