Global surge in 2024's internet blackouts: Governments, cyberattacks, and technical issues cause disruptions impacting millions worldwide.
Internet shutdown has become global phenomenon. In the first quarter of 2024, Internet disruptions kicked off with quite a few Internet disruptions.
Various incidents, including damage to cables, military actions, and cyberattacks, caused connectivity problems in different regions. Governments of various countries implemented shutdowns, particularly targeting mobile networks. Including countries affected by cyber-attacks also resulted in internet disruption.
Additionally, maintenance, power outages, and technical issues like Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) and Domain Name Server (DNS) problems also affected Internet connectivity, leading to observed drops in traffic for multiple network providers.
As per a report, Atlas VPN, shutting down the internet for 24 hours would have a startling financial impact of $43 billion. Notably, the United States and China each pay half of this amount, totaling $21 billion in losses.
Apart from that Internet shutdowns can cause communication disruptions, economic losses for businesses, social isolation, and disruptions to education. They can disrupt online transactions, e-commerce, and digital services, causing financial losses. Students may face challenges accessing online resources and virtual classes, affecting their learning outcomes. According to findings from Top10VPN.com, India faced an economic loss of $585.4 million in 2023 due to internet shutdowns, spanning a total of 7,812 hours.
Internet shutdowns can infringe upon freedom of speech, expression, and access to information, violating basic human rights. Essential services like healthcare, banking, and emergency services may be affected, posing risks to public safety and well-being.
Internet Shutdown cases in 2024
Cloudflare has recently launched a report where they tracked down the global internet shutdown cases since the beginning of year 2024.
- In Central Africa on January 10, 2024, internet services experienced a disruption caused by a severed optical fiber originating from Cameroon. This fiber connection is vital for Chad’s internet access, as the alternate route through Sudan was temporarily unavailable. Moov Africa Tchad traffic was disrupted for over 12 hours starting midday (UTC) on January 10, and the disruption was visible at a country level as well.
- On February 15, a brief (~30 minute) but complete significant Internet disruption was observed at Orange Burkina Faso. According to the translation of a communiqué posted by the provider on social media.
- As of late February 28, several areas across Nigeria were experiencing internet and telecommunication service disruptions due to multiple fiber cuts, MTN Nigeria. The outage, which lasted for hours, affected millions of customers nationwide, with Lagos being particularly impacted.
- In Haiti, violence associated with attempts to remove Prime Minister Ariel Henry led to a double fiber cut, causing a 16-hour Internet disruption on March 2/3 at Digicel Haiti. The outage began around 22:00 local time on March 2 (03:00 on March 3) and resulted in a complete loss of connectivity for approximately nine hours.
- In Phillipines A short-lived traffic disturbance occurred on SKY in the Philippines on March 18, likely due to a fiber cut. SKY issued a social media advisory stating that “SKY services in several areas in Marikina, Pasig, and Quezon City are currently impacted by a cut-fiber issue,” identifying 45 affected areas.
- On March 14, damage to multiple submarine cables off the west coast of Africa impacted Internet connectivity across multiple countries in West and Southern Africa.
- On February 22, Russian air strikes on critical infrastructure in Ukraine damaged energy facilities across the country, resulting in widespread power outages. These power outages caused Internet disruptions across multiple regions in Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and Khmelnytskyi Oblast.
- On March 13, several Ukrainian telecommunications providers, including Triangulum, Link Telecom Ukraine, Kalush Information Network, Mandarun, and LinkKremen, were targeted in a cyberattack. Triangulum bore the brunt of the impact, experiencing a significant loss of traffic from March 13 to March 20. Triangulum issued a notice on its website, stating, on March 13, 2024, the network experienced a major technical failure due to a hacker attack, rendering electronic communication services impossible.
- Despite earlier assurances from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) that Internet services would remain uninterrupted during the February 8 elections, mobile Internet access was unexpectedly cut across the country on polling day. Pakistani authorities justified the move as necessary “to maintain law and order” following incidents of violence the day before. The impact of the shutdown was felt across various Internet providers in Pakistan, including Zong/CMPak, Telenor Pakistan, and Jazz/Mobilink. The disruption lasted from 07:00 to 20:00 local time 02:00 to 15:00 UTC, with traffic levels returning to normal approximately nine hours later.
- A widespread multi-hour power outage occurred in Tajikistan on March 1. The outage began around 11:00 local time (06:00 UTC), and lasted for approximately three hours.
- Beginning around 03:00 Central Time (09:00 UTC) on February 22, AT&T customers in various cities across the United States encountered disruptions in mobile services. Affected areas encompassed cities like Atlanta, Houston, and Chicago, where connectivity issues persisted for roughly eight hours.
What could be the possible reasons ?
Internet outages can occur due to various reasons, including:
- Damage to fiber optic cables, either accidental (such as construction work) or deliberate (such as vandalism or sabotage), can lead to widespread Internet disruptions.
- Events like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, or severe storms can damage infrastructure, including undersea cables, terrestrial lines, and data centers, causing Internet outages.
- Equipment malfunctions, power outages, software bugs, or hardware failures within Internet service providers’ networks or data centers can result in service disruptions.
- Malicious cyber attacks, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, hacking attempts, or malware infections, can overload networks, compromise systems, or disrupt Internet connectivity.
- Governments may intentionally block or restrict Internet access for various reasons, including political instability, national security concerns, or to control information flow during sensitive events like elections or protests.
- Planned maintenance or upgrades to network infrastructure, servers, or data centers can temporarily interrupt Internet services in specific regions or for certain providers.
- High demand or sudden spikes in Internet usage, particularly during peak hours or major events, can strain network capacity and lead to slowdowns or outages.
- Problems with routing protocols or misconfigurations in routers and switches can cause traffic congestion, routing loops, or network partitioning, disrupting Internet connectivity.
Nations such as Pakistan, various African countries, the United States, Nigeria, the Philippines, Haiti, Russia, and others are susceptible to internet outages. India, too, ranks among the top countries experiencing a significant number of internet disruptions. According to Statista report between January 2012 and February 2024, India experienced 805 government-imposed internet shutdowns, marking the highest number of such incidents globally. The Freedom House Index of 2019 classified India as a partially free democracy, awarding it a moderate score of 55 out of 100 on internet freedom parameters.
In 2019 alone, India endured forced internet blackouts lasting over four thousand hours, leading to an economic loss exceeding 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. This ranked India third among the world’s most economically affected countries by internet shutdowns, following Iraq and Sudan.
According to Statista report by Katharina Buchholz, Data Journalist, in 2023, escalating ethnic tensions in Manipur state prompted the Indian government to implement the highest number of targeted shutdowns.
According to Top10VPN, these shutdowns affected approximately 59 million people for nearly 8,000 hours in total, surpassing all other countries globally. Similarly, in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Iran, authorities resorted to internet blocks to suppress dissent, protests, and, in one instance, even the Orthodox church. These actions resulted in nearly equivalent durations of internet restrictions, highlighting a concerning trend of stifling freedom of expression and communication.
As of February 2024 , 17 internet shutdowns have already taken place. Internet blackouts in India are often meticulously targeted, sometimes extending to individual blacklisting. Shutdowns can vary in scope, ranging from localized restrictions lasting a few hours in specific city districts to comprehensive bans affecting all internet services across larger regions of the country.
To address Internet outages often requires prompt troubleshooting, maintenance, and mitigation measures by Internet service providers, network operators, and relevant authorities.
