20 internet services providers fail to block half of websites from sanction list

"Digital Security Laboratory" has verified 70 internet services providers in Ukraine and revealed that 20 of them failed to block the most part of websites cited in the list of sanction list issued by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. At the same time, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks are blocked almost by all providers. Such are the results of Internet-blockage testcases made by "Digital Security Laboratory" on March 2019 among 70 Internet services providers in all regions of Ukraine, except Kyiv, as to "Detector Media" . According to this research, the Internet services providers “Kyivstar”, “Datagroup”, “Volya” and Mykolaiv provider “WildPark” blocked 240 websites cited in the sanction list. "Not all Ukrainian Internet services providers are blocking websites in Crimea, some regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Russia. Less than 15 providers, for example, do not restrict access to such resources: crimea.gov.ru, sprav.yandex.ua, dnr-life.ru, the WebMoney platform, sites of the so-called "Ministry of Transport of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)", "Ministry of Health of the DPR" and " Council of Ministers of the LNR(Luhansk People’s Republic)", - the experts said. According to a the NGO, some providers used different ways to block the websites in different ways depending on the region. "In Dnipro, during one week of tests on March, one provider failed to block 185 sanctionned websites, while in other cities such resources were four or five. In Kherson, during the first week of March, the same provider did not block 183 websites ", - the experts of the "Digital security Laboratory ". In addition, according to the research, some Ukrainian providers failed to block popular Russian platforms "Odnoklassniki", mail.ru and yandex.ru. For example, during March "Odnoklassniki" and mail.ru were available in Odessa by means of one provider; mail.ru platform was available in Uzhgorod, as well as in Zaporozhye; yandex.ru was available during two weeks in Dnipro, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Kryvy Rih, Rivne and Zhytomyr, through seven Internet services providers. The elements of “Digital security laboratory” research are available at the link. According to IMI, on May 15, 2017, the President Poroshenko, by his decree, enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council "On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)" that supposed blockage of access to Russian social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, and also to the services of "Yandex" and Mail.ru.