Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers prompt bot operators to shift to other cloud providers

Ukrainian drone strikes on Yandex data centers in Russia caused a temporary drop in bot traffic, but operators quickly migrated their systems to other cloud providers to continue disinformation campaigns. Cloudflare data shows the disruption did not halt malicious automation. Cloudflare's analysis found that while Yandex Search and Yandex Cloud networks saw traffic declines of up to 99% and 90% respectively, malicious bot activity shifted to other Russian hosting providers like Radist and Selectel. The company could not confirm whether the strikes affected social media disinformation campaigns specifically. The report highlights that Russia's centralized internet infrastructure concentrates risk, unlike decentralized networks that can redirect traffic. Pro-Kremlin bloggers and analysts have warned that the country's digital economy faces potential collapse amid the ongoing data center conflict with Ukraine.