[members-discuss] RIPEdb registry need to be ready for separating?

W dniu 15.03.2022 o 11:40, ivaylo pisze:
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> Propaganda is all around us (in all mass media from all countries, in 
> soccial medias, etc.), we do not need to carry it here. The main task of 
> RIPE is to maintain the allocation of resources for the functioning of 
> the Internet in the region.

Indeed, however Putin's plans to isolate Russia network from the rest of 
the world in a way similar to NK or PRC are a fact. At this point of 
time the measures in place are quite primitive - banning all foreign DNS 
servers and forcing Russian users to use Russian (government-controlled) 
DNS only. Something similar was, sadly, implemented in Poland in all of 
places supposedly to stop the internet gambling problem, but because one 
has only to use global DNS servers instead of local to circumvent that 
it is just a "security theater" (government pretending they are doing 
"something" to solve a "problem") - albeit a bit unnerving to be honest.

> The main task of the Internet is to give every user access to 
> information. Screening, restricting, banning people's access to 
> information (internet) will not in any way resolve the world's military 
> conflicts, nor will it lead to peace. On the contrary, it will only 
> deepen differences in people's thinking and boost propaganda that is not 
> in the interests of societies around the world.

Oh, I completely agree with that. However the problem is that the 
measures Putin is implementing could make that free access to 
information impossible in practice anyway while at the same time keeping 
us vulnerable to attacks by his military hackers - which can hinder or 
even prevent access to information and services here outside Russia too.

I'm sure You've probably seen the increase of brute-force hack attacks 
from all over the world - and I am wondering how many of those originate 
from Russia (or China) and are just using overseas proxies/VPNs/clouds 
to mask the origin of the attack. Physically cutting Russia would stop 
that, obviously, but I am worried - as You are - about the cost of such 
a drastic measure.

It is not about politics - it is about ensuring network availability. Is 
keeping Russia connected putting us in danger of even wider network 
failure? I would call it "House's leg dilemma" (if You've seen House MD 
you'll get what I mean)

So my question is what would be the best (or least worse) course of 
action in that situation... I am leaning toward prioritizing maintaining 
free access to information, obviously, but I am also concerned about our 
security. Especially since I know how woefully inadequate IT support is 
in plenty of even big corporations due to stupid cost cutting (see: 
Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack; that should not have happened! even 
my smallest systems have separate RDIFF backup system that is 
inaccessible to any user and is cut off from the internet so when I had 
a ransomware attack few years back due to a privileged user being 
careless it was just a trivial issue of restoring backups from last 
evening - at most a day's work lost, no biggie, and as a bonus I got to 
dish out a lot of "I told you so" and suddenly there was money for a 
real antivirus packet and I was able to finally push some additional 
security measures). There are big professional customers who call about 
internet failure when in fact the cause was power failure on their site 
- I shudder to think how inadequate their network security might be if 
that is the level of their competence.

> I support the idea of a RIPE program for financial assistance to 
> Ukranian LIRs badly affected by the military conflict there, but only 
> after the preparation, voting and adoption of clearly set and regulated 
> conditions in RIPE documents and contracts that can be used in the 
> future similar situations. Otherwise, and hasty action, there is a risk 
> of setting a precedent that could be used in the future by unscrupulous 
> members.
That is true.

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