Tiered protection standards
Russian state-controlled media Kommersant reported on Oct. 25 that the Digital Development Ministry proposed building underground data centers with camouflage and drone defenses. The ministry’s guidelines for existing, planned, and under-construction facilities establish specific protection standards for three tiers of data centers based on whether these sites are placed above ground or underground.
| Tier | Description | Expected Outage Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Top tier | Strategic sites | Disrupt key state functions for 1 hour or more |
| Second tier | Regional/economic systems | Outages lasting 4 hours or more |
| Final tier | Corporate data centers | No wider consequences for the state |
The top tier includes strategic sites whose loss could disrupt essential state functions for one hour or more, while the second tier includes sites supporting regional or economic systems where outages could last four hours or more. The final tier covers corporate data centers whose damage would not have wider consequences for the state. Existing data centers require reduced visibility from the air and layered defenses. These defenses include reinforced structures, electronic warfare measures, and drone defense systems.
Drone strikes hit major Russian providers
Ukrainian drones struck three Yandex data centers, a Sberbank facility under construction, and a VK data center between Oct. 8 and Oct. 18. These strikes could disrupt banking, online services, military technology, and AI development. Serhiy Petrenko, former head of Yandex Ukraine, estimated that approximately 80% of Russia’s data centers are concentrated in Moscow and the surrounding region. This concentration places them within reach of Ukrainian long-range drones. This vulnerability leaves Moscow facing two problems: protecting its own data centers from further strikes and inflicting comparable damage on Ukraine.
On Oct. 16, Kemerovo Oblast governor Ilya Seredyuk proposed housing data centers inside depleted open-pit mines and quarries to provide natural protection from aerial bombardment. The concentration of infrastructure in Moscow and the surrounding region forces the Russian government to balance the protection of its own data centers against the ability to inflict comparable damage on Ukraine. This vulnerability remains because most facilities are within reach of Ukrainian drones. The strikes on Yandex, Sberbank, and VK demonstrate how vulnerable centralized digital infrastructure is to long-range drone attacks.
