Geographic IP Address Accounting System (GeoIP)

2024: Roskomnadzor has developed a draft order to create a trusted database of IP address geolocation in Russia

Roskomnadzor has developed a draft order to create a trusted database of IP address geolocation in Russia, the purpose of which will be to increase the protection of domestic Internet resources from DDoS attacks. This was announced on January 16, 2024 by the press service of the State Duma deputy RFAnton Nemkin.

The document amends the current order of Roskomnadzor dated July 31, 2019 No. 221, its public discussion began on January 15 and will end on February 2. According to the plans of the department, the order should come into force on September 1, 2024 and be valid for 4 years, until 2028. "The purpose of the order is to collect information on the country (geographical) ownership of IP networks," the explanatory note to the bill says.

Telecom operators, owners or other owners of technological communication networks, organizers of the dissemination of information on the Internet, as well as other persons who have a unique identifier of a set of means of communication and other technical means on the Internet, transmit a certain set of information to Roskomnadzor. It includes the short name of the IP address ranges, the name of the organization or information about the person to whom the ranges are allocated, as well as the source of information about the network addresses belonging to the autonomous system, and about the network addresses used by persons who have the autonomous system number.

Nevertheless, the department considered this list insufficient and proposes to supplement it with information about the network addresses used, the location of using the range of network addresses in accordance with the information contained in the state address register, or in the form of geographical coordinates and information about the purpose of using the range of these addresses.

Based on the provided data, a trusted database of IP address geolocation in Russia will be formed. Data Base will be regularly updated, telecom operators and resource owners will be able to use it to automatically create correct access lists, its creation will bring the digital border of the state in line with the physical borders of the Russian Federation. Russian citizens will have access to state, banking and other important resources anywhere in the country, the compilers of the document explain.

Roskomnadzor associates the need for such a base with an increase in the number and intensity of DDoS attacks on the state resources of the Russian Federation back in 2022. At the same time, attacks mainly come from abroad, which means that telecom operators and owners of Internet resources have to form access lists based on data on the country affiliation of networks in order to protect their platforms. However, information about the country affiliation of networks is usually taken from publicly available international information services - there, at the same time, a large number of inaccuracies and errors are contained, which leads to blocking access to Internet resources for legitimate users.

The creation of both the base and the system is due to the increased and maintained at a high level number of DDoS attacks on companies in the Russian Federation, Anton Nemkin emphasized.

2023: Work to build the system

The Center for Monitoring and Management of the Public Communications Network (CMU SSOP), subordinate to Roskomnadzor, is developing a system for recording the geographical affiliation of IP addresses (GeoIP), which will replace foreign databases. The director of the center, Sergei Khutortsev, spoke about the new project at the end of October 2023.

The system will combine many sources of information, including databases and information about IP addresses from our systems, telecom operators. And the final file with information on geographical distribution will be relatively freely available to users and system owners, he said (quoted by TASS).

SMU SSOP develops a system for accounting for the geographical affiliation of IP addresses

Using IP geolocation databases (GeoIP), Internet service owners can map the IP addresses of visitors by which devices on the Web are identified with their approximate location, Kommersant explains. Usually geolocation is determined at the level of cities and countries. Such tools use, for example, online stores to determine the delivery city and sites to restrict access to content by geography.

At the end of October 2023, Sergei Khutortsev noted that in recent years, the TSMU SSOP has received more than 400 requests from residents of Russian regions who cannot access domestic services, including state ones, due to an incorrect database of the geographical affiliation of IP addresses.

There is a need to create a [domestic] service that would solve this problem comprehensively. This system will unite many sources of information - the same MaxMind, our telecom operators and other sources of information, - said Khutortsev.

According to him, the system is planned to be launched in early 2024, and by the end of 2023 the first versions of the file with information should appear.^[1]

Notes