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Russia says DDoS Attack Disrupts Telegram, WhatsApp

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)
Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)
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Russia says DDoS Attack Disrupts Telegram, WhatsApp

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)
Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to logos of social media apps Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram projected on a screen in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Reuters)

Russian users of Telegram and WhatsApp had trouble accessing the messaging apps on Wednesday due to disruption the state communications monitoring service said was caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

The service said the attack had been repelled and that the messaging networks were working normally again. Russian media said other sites, including Wikipedia, Skype and the social media platform Discord had also been affected, Reuters reported.

"The disruption is related to a DDoS attack on Russian telecom operators," the service said in a statement, without saying who might have been responsible.

Wednesday's disruption to the messaging apps, which are widely popular in Russia, came weeks after Russian internet monitoring services reported a mass outage on the availability of video hosting site YouTube as Russian authorities step up criticism of the platform.

Hundreds of Russian users of Signal reported glitches with the secure messenger app earlier this month.

Russia began to block access to Telegram in 2018. The action interrupted many third-party services, but had little effect on the availability of Telegram there.

WhatsApp's parent company Meta Platforms Inc was branded an "extremist" organisation by Moscow in 2022 and other Meta services - Facebook and Instagram - are now banned in Russia, but can still be accessed using virtual private networks (VPNs).

 

 

 

 

 

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Microsoft Faces UK Lawsuit over Cloud Computing Licenses

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Faces UK Lawsuit over Cloud Computing Licenses

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

Microsoft faces legal action in Britain over a claim that thousands of businesses using cloud computing services provided by Amazon, Google and Alibaba could be paying higher license fees to use Windows Server software.

Competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi filed a case at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday, claiming that British businesses and organizations could collectively be owed more than 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) in compensation.

"Put simply, Microsoft is punishing UK businesses and organizations for using Google, Amazon and Alibaba for cloud computing by forcing them to pay more money for Windows Server," she said.

"By doing so, Microsoft is trying to force customers into using its cloud computing service Azure and restricting competition in the sector."

Separately, Britain's competition regulator is investigating cloud computing, a market dominated by Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Azure and, to a lesser extent, Google Cloud Platform.

Microsoft's licensing practices, for example for its Windows Server and Microsoft 365 products, are part of its inquiry.

It is due to update on its investigation imminently.

Microsoft in 2020 introduced new license fees for running its software on major cloud providers.

The claim alleges it then used the fees to induce customers to use its Azure platform.

Data from the Competition and Markets Authority published in May showed Microsoft was winning customers at a significantly higher rate than other cloud providers since it made the licensing change.

The United States Federal Trade Commission last week opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, including its cloud computing business, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The FTC is examining allegations the software giant was potentially abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving from Azure to competitive platforms, sources said last month.