this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
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Something which has not been mentioned yet - Russia controls DNS resolution for any .ru site, and here's how that works:
When you browse, say, www.yandex[.]ru, your computer needs to know the IP address of a server that hosts that site. Let's say you are not using an ISP or public DNS server to get your name resolution from DNS hostname to IP address. (All of the following is essentially still what happens, just with a less complicated explanation.)
First, your computer contains a list of root DNS servers. Every DNS query starts with a root server, and those root servers are associated with the often-excluded '.' at the end, like "www.yandex[.]ru**.**" - that trailing dot at the end always exists, we just don't type it.
The root server says, "Here's a DNS server which is authoritative for the .ru top-level domain, go ask them."
Then your computer asks the .ru DNS server where to find www.yandex[.]ru, and the .ru DNS server says "Here's the server that is authoritative for the "yandex" subdomain under .ru, go ask them where their "www" host is."
Then your computer asks the yandex[.]ru DNS server where to find www.yandex[.]ru, then that DNS server says "Here's the IP address that goes with that hostname," and your computer asks the server at that IP for the website.
Again, Russia controls DNS resolution for anything at .ru. All they would need to do for any subdomain beneath .ru is provide their own authoritative DNS server for yandex[.]ru - or for any other whatever[.]ru DNS name. They could then redirect all browsing traffic to anything under .ru to anything they wanted.
Those FBI takedown pages? This is exactly how that is done. The FBI doesn't reconfigure a server at the "correct" IP; they redirect DNS for the subdomain to their own IP and own web server in order to display the takedown page. That operation is performed within legal limits, but from a technical perspective, such an operation could just as easily happen outside of legal limits, especially when the party trusted to properly respond to DNS queries is Russia.
tl;dr: Russia can very easily redirect any traffic to any .ru site to anywhere they want.
Ugh. First, how you explain DNS makes it hella confusing. I've read it like 3x and I still don't get how it works based on your explanation of it. Also, this is just how DNS works. Everyone can redirect if they want to. Every country does for various reasons. That's not really the important bits. The important bits are whether they actually do or not and for what purpose. Moreover, DNS is not bound to a simple suffix. I live in the US and have domains that range from .ca to .us. to whatever. Some countries control certain aspects, but there really isn't any formal authority that says if you live in the US you can't have a .ca. There's so much more going on there and it's almost unenforceable at this point.
Second, yandex.ru is not a thing. Go visit it. The correct address is yandex.com. Third, a redirect is obvious and no one is rebuilding a pirate site with a redirect. You'll notice. Contrary to tinfoil hatters, governments aren't building complicated honey pots when all they have to do is sit on a torrent and fire off automated emails to your ISP. Moreover, 99% of ISPs don't give a shit and just do what's legally required of them but to this date, none have really taken action.
Lastly, your tl;dr was enough but doesn't actually speak to safety, just that "they can". The CIA can just bust in your home rn and take you to a black site, make up some shit and you're gone forever. If they wanted to. They don't because why?
Honestly, this place is so full of doomsday preppers that if someone asked if it was safe to jaywalk, they'd be coming out the woodwork like "nah man, a cop could just run you over and blah blah blah." Please.
tl;dr: yes .ru sites are just as safe as any other website
A redirect isn’t necessary if you control the DNS servers. If you control the DNS servers, you can MITM the website for any visitor because you can prove that you own the domain to a certificate authority and generate a new, trusted HTTPS cert. (Depending on specifics this may or may not foil the anti-phishing capabilities of Passkeys / U2F.)
Actually, yandex.ru is a thing. It was the main domain for yandex for many years and became a redirect to dzen.ru as part of a deal between yandex and mail.ru (another Russian tech company). But dzen.ru still contains yandex search string, so there is not a lot of difference.
Visit yandex.ru. It’s not the main Yandex domain just go visit it. Bro. Please. Stop.
Guy, I visit yandex.ru every day. It is my homepage.
It seems to me that you did not read my message, so here is the repeat:
Here is even some proof of that: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russia-tightens-grip-media-yandex-sells-homepage-news-rival-vk-2022-08-23/