Outages following attacks on Yandex are disrupting Russian court proceedings
Russian arbitration courts have been experiencing technical glitches for three weeks now following attacks on Yandex’s data centers. Due to problems with the “Electronic Justice” services, courts have been forced to reschedule hearings, and parties to the cases are being asked to appear in person. At the same time, some of the issues—particularly those related to uploading documents—appear to have already been resolved.
Russian arbitration courts have been unable to fully resume operations following the attacks on Yandex’s data centers, which began on October 8. Due to technical issues, judges are not always able to hold hearings online, so cases must be postponed or interrupted. A notice regarding service disruptions remains posted on the arbitration case registry website. It mentions the unstable operation of the “Electronic Justice” services. In particular, problems arise during online hearings and even during test videoconferences.
This means that participants in legal proceedings cannot always join hearings remotely. And courts that rely on electronic services are forced to reschedule cases.
Courts Postpone Hearings Due to Technical Issues
One such incident occurred on October 27 in the Altai Krai. An arbitration court was hearing a bankruptcy case, but due to a massive outage at the Yandex data center, it was unable to hold an online hearing. Therefore, the hearing was rescheduled for November 23. In its ruling, the court explained the reason for the postponement: “It is not possible to hold online hearings due to a massive outage at the Yandex data center.” The court also noted that it is acting in accordance with the rules governing procedural deadlines.
On the same day, the Arbitration Court of the Tyumen Region issued a similar ruling. Thus, the problem is not limited to a single institution—courts in various regions of Russia are facing it. At the same time, some courts are already warning parties to the proceedings that they will not reschedule hearings due to systematic technical glitches. Because of this, people are advised to ensure their in-person attendance at court in advance.
Some services have already been restored
Despite the problems with online hearings, the situation is not static. According to observations by “Versta” journalists, it appears that some of the glitches related to uploading files and documents, as well as recording court hearings, have been resolved. Previously, the arbitration case registry website had posted separate warnings about these issues. Now, those notices have disappeared. A journalist from the publication also did not encounter any difficulties accessing the website itself or court documents.
However, this does not yet mean that e-justice operations have been fully restored. Online hearings may still not be taking place, and judicial institutions continue to report technical difficulties.
What Is Known About the Attacks on Yandex’s Data Centers
Widespread disruptions in the operations of Russian courts began after attacks on Yandex’s data centers in October. According to Verstka, the first problems arose on October 8, and attacks on the company’s infrastructure over the following days led to disruptions in a number of digital services. Data centers are specialized facilities that house servers that store and process data and support the operation of online platforms. If such infrastructure is damaged, the consequences can be felt not only by users of the company’s own services but also by organizations that depend on its technical capabilities.
In this case, the problems also affected the e-justice system. It allows participants in legal proceedings to access documents and participate in hearings remotely. When online functions are unstable, courts are forced to require participants to appear in person or to reschedule hearings. According to “Verstka,” replacing equipment in Yandex’s damaged data centers could take up to six months. This is an estimate of the possible timeframe for restoring the infrastructure, not a confirmed date for the full resumption of normal service operations.
Thus, three weeks after the attacks, some digital functions have likely already been restored, but problems with online hearings in Russian arbitration courts persist. As a result, the courts continue to reschedule hearings and are urging parties to the cases to prepare to appear in person. This was reported by the publication “Verstka” on October 29.
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The Russian company Yandex has moved all three of its supercomputers (“Lyapunov,” “Galushkin,” and “Chervonenkis”) to new computing sites following a series of attacks by Ukrainian drones. The company’s press office stated that the equipment was not damaged during the attacks.
On the night of October 11, drones attacked Yandex’s 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.
