What happened
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered private data center owners to set aside 10% of their capacity for state IT infrastructure, according to Reuters. The aim is to let the state quickly access additional compute capacity if needed.
How it will work
The Digital Development Ministry has been told to inventory available data center capacity and floor space at privately owned facilities across the country. A new government commission will have the power to order the release of reserved capacity. Once an order is issued, third-party data center owners must comply within 24 hours. The temporary use of data centers located outside Russia is also being considered, subject to approval from the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Why now
Russian data centers have become targets for Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks. In early October, drones struck the country's largest data center, a 63-megawatt facility, damaging multiple modules so badly they had to be taken out of service. Two weeks later, the finance ministry's data center was damaged; it reportedly housed tax databases and other state registry data.
Cyberattacks too
Drones are not the only threat. The Russian Federal State Statistics Service admitted that its servers were hit by cyberattacks in which 23TB of data was stolen. The haul reportedly includes new data on Russian wartime losses marked "for official use only." Russia has also targeted Ukrainian facilities, bombing them in September and cutting internet connectivity for 100,000 households.
