Russian sites go down after Yandex data center fire and DDoS-protection provider failure
In short
Users across Russia reported widespread problems reaching websites on 8 October, including media outlets RBC, Vedomosti, RIA Novosti and Kommersant as well as Cian, Avito and Russian Railways. The outages followed a drone strike and fire at a Yandex data center in Sasovo, Ryazan region, which suspended its operations, while Kommersant and RBC also reported a failure at a DDoS-protection provider that hit media sites. That provider, Curator, later said a network engineer's error during technical works caused a 40-minute outage for part of its clients.
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On 8 October users across Russia reported mass problems accessing internet services, including the sites of media outlets, marketplaces, banks, transport services and online cinemas, 3DNews reported. According to iXBT and Meduza, users were unable to open the sites of RBC, Vedomosti, RIA Novosti, Kommersant, Vesti, Interfax and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Meduza, citing RBC, later wrote that the sites were accessible again. [ 2 , 3 , 6 ]
The outages came against the backdrop of an incident at Yandex's data center in Sasovo, Ryazan region. Kommersant reported that drones struck the facility on 8 October, Meduza wrote that Ukraine attacked it in the morning, and 3DNews said a fire broke out overnight after a drone attack. The Yandex press service told RBC, as cited by iXBT, that work at the data center was temporarily suspended, that damage affected part of the infrastructure and that nobody was hurt; 3DNews said the site was fully stopped. Yandex warned that some of its services might be unavailable, and 3DNews reported power supply problems in one Yandex Cloud zone. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 ]
Kommersant reported, citing the company, that a failure also occurred on 8 October on the networks of DDoS-protection provider Qrator Labs, in parallel with the outages linked to the attack on Yandex, and that this caused access problems at the sites of RBC, Vedomosti, RIA Novosti, Kommersant, Vesti and Interfax. RBC reported a failure at DDoS-protection provider Curator, whose services are used by media and banks whose sites were temporarily unavailable. According to Habr News, Curator said an emergency during technical works, caused by a network engineer's error, made one segment of its network temporarily unavailable, affected part of its clients and lasted 40 minutes. [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]
Citing monitoring services, 3DNews said users reported problems with Gosuslugi (Госуслуги), Cian (ЦИАН), Avito, VKontakte and Russian Railways (RZD). iXBT, citing Sboy.rf (Сбой.рф), added ivi, YouTube and the sites of MTS, Rostelecom and T2, and RIA Novosti listed Avito, T-Bank, ivi, RZD, Yandex and MTS, with most complaints coming from Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk region. Cian confirmed its problems were caused by an incident at an infrastructure partner's facility, and the Astral (Астрал) group warned of possible disruptions to electronic reporting, document flow and transport documents, linking them to the Yandex data center incident. Kommersant reported that the sites of developers A101, Granel (Гранель) and Brusnika (Брусника) were affected and that online bus ticket sales by Mostransavto (Мострансавто) in the Moscow region were temporarily unavailable. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]
3DNews said specific causes had not been reported and the scale was hard to assess, since monitoring services mainly reflect user complaints rather than confirmed failures; it noted that Yandex Mail had already recovered and that its own site was unavailable from about 15:30 to 16:05 for at least some users. RIA Novosti said it had sent requests to the Ministry of Digital Development and Roskomnadzor and reported that Russian tour operators had not faced serious website disruptions. [ 2 , 5 ]
Why it matters
According to the reports, disruptions at Cian, Astral and some Yandex services were linked to the Yandex data center incident, while media and bank sites were affected by the failure at a DDoS-protection provider, so problems at single infrastructure providers reached many Russian sites at once. RIA Novosti said it had sent requests to the Ministry of Digital Development and Roskomnadzor.
Key facts
- A fire broke out at Yandex's data center in Sasovo, Ryazan region, on 8 October and its operations were suspended. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 ]
- Kommersant and 3DNews said drones struck the data center; Meduza wrote that Ukraine attacked it. [ 2 , 4 , 6 ]
- Users reported being unable to open the sites of RBC, Vedomosti, RIA Novosti, Kommersant, Vesti, Interfax and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. [ 3 , 6 ]
- Kommersant and RBC reported a failure at a DDoS-protection provider, named Qrator Labs by Kommersant and Curator by RBC, that affected media sites. [ 7 , 8 ]
- Curator said an emergency during technical works, caused by a network engineer's error, made one network segment unavailable for 40 minutes and affected part of its clients. [ 9 ]
- Cian confirmed its outage was caused by an incident at an infrastructure partner's facility. [ 3 ]
- Most complaints in the preceding three hours came from Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk region, RIA Novosti reported. [ 5 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- A fire broke out at Yandex's data center in Sasovo, Ryazan region, and its operations were stopped. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 ]
- The data center was attacked by drones. [ 2 , 4 , 6 ]
- Yandex warned that some of its services might be unavailable. [ 2 , 4 ]
- Sites of RBC, Vedomosti, RIA Novosti, Kommersant, Vesti and Interfax had access problems on 8 October. [ 3 , 6 , 7 ]
- A failure at a DDoS-protection provider on 8 October affected the sites of media outlets. [ 7 , 8 , 10 ]
- Cian's website was affected. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- Users reported problems with Russian Railways (RZD) services. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
Still unclear
- What caused the media site outages. Meduza's headline linked them to the attack on the Yandex data center, while Kommersant and RBC attributed them to a failure at a DDoS-protection provider, which Kommersant said happened in parallel with the Yandex-related outages.
- When the fire started. 3DNews said the fire broke out overnight, while iXBT and Meduza said it happened in the morning.
- How far the data center was shut down. 3DNews said the site was fully stopped, while the Yandex press service, as cited by iXBT, said work was temporarily suspended.
- Who carried out the attack. Only Meduza attributed the attack to Ukraine; other outlets referred to drones without naming who launched them.
- The real scale of the outage. 3DNews said monitoring services reflect user complaints rather than confirmed service failures and that the scale was hard to assess.
- The name of the DDoS-protection provider. Kommersant named it Qrator Labs, while RBC, iXBT and Habr News named it Curator.
- Any response from regulators. RIA Novosti said it had sent requests to the Ministry of Digital Development and Roskomnadzor; no reply was reported.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- The 3DNews website became unavailable for at least some users, until about 16:05. [ 2 ]
- RBC published an item headed "Service outage". [ 1 ]
- 3DNews reported a large-scale outage of Russian internet services. [ 2 ]
- RIA Novosti reported the outage and said it had sent requests to the Ministry of Digital Development and Roskomnadzor. [ 5 ]
- Meduza, citing RBC, reported that the media sites were accessible again. [ 6 ]
- Kommersant reported, citing the company, a failure on the networks of DDoS-protection provider Qrator Labs. [ 7 ]
- RBC reported a failure at DDoS-protection provider Curator. [ 8 ]
- On 9 October Habr News reported that Curator attributed the 40-minute failure to a network engineer's error during technical works. [ 9 ]