Does restricting international internet access and using an internal network or a national network increase cybersecurity?
When we say an internal network, or what is often called the national internet, what exactly do we mean?
An internal network refers to a network in which the infrastructure, services, and internet traffic routes remain within the country instead of depending on systems outside the country.
What does that mean? When you want to access a website, you enter its address. That address includes its own DNS records that guide the request to the host of that domain.
If everything works correctly, you can view that website. Now, if in an internal internet environment that DNS is hosted within the country, the site will be accessible; otherwise, you will not be able to view the website.
Therefore, any website, platform, or service that is hosted within that country will be visible, otherwise you will encounter an error.
Does cutting off the international internet increase security?
The concept of cutting off the internet and restricting it are two completely different definitions and they have different answers.
Cutting off the internet means having no access at all to the international internet, while restricting it means having limited access to the international internet.
In both cases, at certain times some threats decrease, but at the same time risks also increase.
A complete internet shutdown is possible if that country has the equipment and readiness to host users on its internal network.
However, it is not only about network stability. A complete internet shutdown means having no connection to the outside world, its services, and its existing platforms.
If a country can meet its software and hardware needs without requiring global connectivity, then cutting off the internet can be a practical solution. Otherwise, it cannot realistically be implemented.
But internet restriction! Unlike a complete shutdown, restricting the internet is more feasible, but we want to discuss this topic further in this article on Useit.
Does restricting international internet access increase security?
Something that has happened many times in our country, Iran, in recent years is the restriction of international internet access. In recent years, and during certain periods, the use of international internet has dropped to one or two percent for long durations.
We may informally refer to this as an internet shutdown, but in reality it is internet restriction, not a full shutdown.
When the internet is restricted, traffic control becomes easier because most of the load is on internal traffic and it becomes easier to manage.
Even controlling the limited one or two percent of external traffic is easier.
On the surface, this may appear to increase security, which is somewhat true because it can prevent some simple attacks.
However, restricting the internet does not prevent complex and professional attacks. Such traffic can easily be transmitted through anonymous networks.
Problems caused by restricting international internet
In a country where most software and services require access to the international internet, restricting the internet not only fails to increase security, but can actually have the opposite effect.
In the short term, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, restriction can be effective because it may prevent some basic cyber attacks.
But in the long term, due to the lack of service updates and disruptions in system functionality, this very issue can create security vulnerabilities.
For example, in the year 1405 (Iranian calendar), up to the time of writing this article, the internet has been cut off for 54 days, and we have witnessed the failure of Bank Sepah and some disruptions in the country’s infrastructure.
According to Zoomit, during this period many governmental and university websites experienced issues with the SSL security section of their sites and became inaccessible.
This can compromise the security of the website and make it easier and more feasible for intrusions to occur.
This itself is evidence that restricting the internet is not an efficient solution for increasing security.
It is like trying to solve a problem by changing the problem statement itself! But what is the correct and fundamental solution?
The solution for increasing security instead of cutting the internet
In the international community, the internet is a tool that has been made accessible to most people in the world. Almost everyone, at any age, uses it.
Restricting this tool or removing access to it can create serious disruptions in people’s lives as well as in businesses and many other areas.
Using the internet is one side of a coin, and the other side is security. Currently, the use of IP‑changing software (VPNs) itself has created major risks.
When you use these types of software, you expose yourself to many dangers, and this can also affect the overall cybersecurity level of society.
If these approaches were truly effective, advanced countries would certainly be using them. So what is the solution?
The solution is actually very simple: if a country’s infrastructure is insecure, instead of restricting international internet access, the focus should be on fixing those weaknesses.
By securing the infrastructure, whether international internet access exists or is restricted, security will still be maintained and the infrastructure will not face problems.
However, restricting the internet not only fails to increase security, but can also have the opposite effect and lead to even greater insecurity.
Source » Yuzit Academy