State service: Recent outage of 9,000 websites cannot be attributed solely to Cloudflare

The outage of more than 9,000 Azerbaijani websites on November 18 should not be viewed as an isolated incident involving the Cloudflare platform, Tural Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijan's Main Department of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Security, said at the Cybersecurity Day event in Baku, Report informs.

He stated that the situation demonstrated the importance of developing local digital solutions and reducing the private sector's dependence on foreign services.

"Creating domestic products should be a key task for companies with significant potential. This is directly related to ensuring digital sovereignty, which is one of the priorities identified by the President in the approved Information Security Strategy," Mammadov noted.

He emphasized that the recent incident was a clear example of the private sector's dependence on external platforms. A significant portion of the affected resources were media sites, which should signal the need to strengthen preparedness for information warfare, he said.

Mammadov noted that over the past three years, a number of government agencies have abandoned Cloudflare-like solutions that involve offshoring internet traffic, and their protection is now ensured through the national AzStateNet infrastructure.

"Over the past three years, the networks of 457 government facilities have been migrated to AzStateNet, ensuring their local protection. This approach applies not only to internet resources but also to special government communications. Even during global internet outages, government information resources will continue to operate locally, and special communications systems for law enforcement agencies operate throughout the country without dependence on mobile networks," he stated.

He also noted that government agencies are provided with the TIMS app, which is used as a local alternative to WhatsApp, reducing external dependency.

In conclusion, Mammadov emphasized that the development of local companies and products contributes to the strengthening of the entire digital ecosystem and directly impacts the cybersecurity of government agencies.