Iran's leaders fight Internet; Internet wins (so far)

Iran's government in recent days has tried to cut off Internet access for most of its election protestors by shutting down routers at the nation's perimeters, ripping satellite dishes off roofs, cutting cables and turning off telephone switching networks.

Iran, in effect, has declared cyberwar on itself. And it doesn't appear to be winning the fight because of the resilience of a communications grid originally designed to be both resilient and pervasive. In fact, its actions may also be crippling banking systems and hindering commerce in what is a technologically advanced nation. Cutting off Internet access affects more than Web sites or Twitter and Facebook. Credit card and ATM systems could be affected, as could critical infrastructures.

One cybersecurity expert, Stephen Spoonamore, a partner at Global Strategic Partners LLC in Washington, pointed out that at about the same time Iran was trying shut down phone and switching systems this weekend -- a response to the huge crowds of citizens upset by what they see as a stolen presidential election -- electric power was lost in Tehran.

Was the power loss a intentional -- or a side effect? Spoonamore think it's the latter.

He believes that once the Iranians began turning off switches to the nation's phone networks, IP-enabled pieces of its electric grid didn't get commands they expected. When you lose switching, "you end up with systems going down that you didn't expect to go down," he said.

What Iran is trying to do is a lot harder than running a cyberwar. In a war like Russia's attack on Georgia last year, the attacker can be indiscriminate and see any unanticipated results as a boon. But Iran is trying to "selectively eliminate connectivity," said Spoonamore -- something the Internet itself was designed and built to thwart.

Twitter users and bloggers, combined with infrequent media reports, have all detailed efforts by Iran to hinder communications in the apparent hopes of quashing protests. And while Iran can censor or block access to the domains it doesn't like, the Internet provides a way around selective blocking.

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

• Email
• Print
• Share
  • Slashdot
  • Digg
  • Stumble
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine