In the midst of Yemen’s ongoing civil war, the battle has extended onto internet services.
To provide some background, Yemen is located on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, and seas to the west and south. It is roughly one fourth the size of Saudi Arabia with a population of approximately 28 million; close to half its population is under the age of 20. It has a predominantly Arab demographic and is the poorest country in the Middle East. Transparency International ranked Yemen 170 of 176 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
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| Yemen | Source: businessinsider.com.au |
There has been notable conflict in the country since around 2011 corresponding with the Arab Spring; during that time then-President Saleh was ousted and Vice President Hadi took office. In 2015 Houthi militia, aligned with pro-Saleh forces and countries like Iran, challenged Hadi’s government and took control of the capital city of Sana’a. In 2017 Saleh was killed by a sniper, leading to to the breakout of a renewed civil war. Saudi Arabian-led forces attempted to intervene and reinstate Hadi’s government. Over 50,000 people have been killed since January 2016.
Although the Hadi government is the internationally recognized government of Yemen, the Houthi currently control the capital city of Sana'a. It is a country primarily divided by four conflicting groups: the Houthi Supreme Political Council, the Hadi government, the Southern Secessionists, and Al-Qaeda,
The battle for control of the country has extended to the digital realm. The country’s main internet provider, YemenNet, is currently controlled by Houthi forces. The Houthi rebels are able to use the censorship, surveillance, and blocking tools that are available on YemenNet. These are tools that are also available and used by other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi have periodically blocked and filtered websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram with a commercial tool from the Canadian company Netsweeper. At other times, they have shut down the country’s whole internet.
It is also noted that the cash-hungry regime has conscripted the internet infrastructure to mine cryptocurrencies, much like North Korea who sought to alleviate the austerities brought on by sanctions. Even with limited resources, internet services are recognized as a tool of consequence in war.
The seat of the Hadi government relocated to the city of Aden, where they created a new ISP called AdenNet in June 2018. Two of the four internet submarine cables that provide service to the country run there and are controlled by the Saudi-backed Hadi government. The other two cables enter at the port city of Hodeidah which is Houthi-controlled. Whoever controls these cables has the ability to block or monitor internet traffic with all of its strategic bounty.
Other countries, such as the U.S., Russia, and China have deployed financial, technological, and military resources to monitor and influence the outcomes of the primarily Saudi-Iranian regional conflict. Signatures of their presence are noted there.
Recorded Futures released a report by the Insikt Group titled “Underlying Dimensions of Yemen’s Civil War: Control of the Internet” in late November of this year. Here is an outline of their report:
- Executive Summary
- Key Judgements
- Background
- Infrastructure
- Submarine Cables
- Access and Censorship
- Baselining Internet Activity
- Quantifying Use in Hadi-Controlled Yemen
- Top Ports and Protocols: Web Browsing and VPNs
- Suspicious Internet Activity
- Internet Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
- Command and Control Servers
- Malware Samples
- Coin Mining Activity
- Expected Cyber Targeting Profiles
- Houthi Supreme Political Council
- Hadi Government
- Southern Secessionists
- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
- Outlook
Article resources:
Foreign Policy "
The Other War in Yemen—for Control of the Country’s Internet" (@CyberCSIS
tweet)
Recorded Future Blog "
Underlying Dimensions of Yemen’s Civil War: Control of the Internet"
Recorded Future
Report and
Podcast
Wikipedia "
Yemen"
