Drone strikes could have disabled all three of Yandex's supercomputers
As a result of attacks by Ukrainian drones on three of Yandex’s five data centers in Russia, all three of the company’s supercomputers may have been knocked out of service. The latest strike hit a facility in the Vladimir region on the night of October 10, after which its operations were completely shut down, according to T-Invariant.
The damaged data center in Vladimir houses the “Galushkin” supercomputer. Two other computing complexes—“Chervonenkis” and “Lyapunov”—were located at the data center in Sasovo, Ryazan Oblast, which was attacked on the night of October 9. Another company facility in Kaluga was damaged on the night of October 8.
After its launch in 2021, “Chervonenkis” ranked 19th on the global TOP500 list, but later dropped to the second hundred. According to T-Invariant, sanctions are hindering Yandex’s efforts to upgrade its computing infrastructure. All three of the company’s supercomputers were used primarily for training neural networks.
The company’s core services are now at risk
Yandex has not disclosed details about the condition of its supercomputers following the attacks. At the same time, the company has officially warned users about disruptions to its services due to damage to data center infrastructure. According to the company, the issues have also affected its support service.
Outages were reported not only in Russia but also abroad, specifically in Kazakhstan, Serbia, Belarus, and Armenia. Yandex Qazaqstan stated that specialists are working to restore stable service operation.
Other companies whose platforms use Yandex’s cloud infrastructure were also affected. In particular, the “Dodo” pizza chain reported that its website and app were unavailable, preventing customers from placing delivery or takeout orders or making in-store purchases.
According to the services “Sboy.rf” and Downdetector, disruptions also occurred in the operation of “Dom.ru,” the Pulkovo Airport website, “Magnit,” “Lenta,” “M.Video,” Timepad, “Yurenta,” “Vkusno - i točka,” Delivery Club, LIME, Flowwow, and DDX Fitness.
Yandex still has two large data centers in the Moscow Region—in Mytishchi and Ivanteevka. However, the series of attacks has already raised concerns about the resilience of the company’s entire infrastructure.
A source familiar with the internal structure of Yandex’s systems explained to The Bell that the loss of a single data center does not necessarily lead to critical consequences. The failure of two facilities creates serious problems, while damage to three could jeopardize the operation of core services.
Restoring the supercomputers could take a long time
According to T-Invariant’s assessment, among Russia’s six largest supercomputers, only two of Sberbank’s computing complexes—Christofari and Christofari Neo, located in Skolkovo—remain relatively protected from drone attacks.
The MTS GROM supercomputer in Litkarin and the remaining Yandex data centers are located in cities that regularly face massive drone attacks.
One of the supercomputer specialists interviewed by T-Invariant noted that restoring computing systems of this caliber could be extremely difficult. According to him, the problem lies not only in funding but also in a shortage of chips and other components, for which there is a global backlog.
Another expert attributed the infrastructure’s vulnerability to the fact that Yandex’s data centers were built during peacetime, without accounting for current threats.
Yandex has amended its user agreement
In light of the attacks, the company added a provision to its user agreement exempting it from liability in cases of force majeure, specifically due to drone attacks.
In a comment to RBC, Yandex representatives explained that such conditions are provided for by law and were previously included in the terms of use for many services. The company is now standardizing them across all its platforms.
The list of force majeure circumstances includes military actions, terrorist acts involving drones and missiles, the consequences of shelling and explosions, as well as large-scale accidents at energy and communications facilities caused by external factors.
The company emphasized that the changes are clarifications and do not alter existing legal mechanisms.
At the same time, the extent of damage to data centers and disruptions in the operation of digital platforms demonstrate just how dependent large technology companies are on physical infrastructure and how difficult it is to quickly restore it after serious damage.
Source: T-Invariant
Earlier in Russia, a large-scale outage of internet services occurred following a drone attack on a Yandex data center.
On the night of October 11, drones attacked the Yandex data center in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast. The company confirmed that operations had come to a complete halt, causing widespread disruptions to dozens of digital services across the country.
The Russian technology company Yandex stated that it had completely shut down its data center in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast due to the drone attack. According to the company, its infrastructure was damaged as a result of the attack.
