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This also happened in Tunisia in 2013 [0]. We believe that it was a bot. [1] [0] : http://imgur.com/a/mjYsP [1] : http://gizmodo.com/the-anonymous-internet-is-under-attack-12...
Did they block pr0n there?
Did they block pr0n there?
Even Skype was blocked in Abu Dhabi last time I was there.
The TRA (https://www.tra.gov.ae/en/home.aspx) outlaws ISPs from allowing VoIP services. Obviously, the goal is to ensure that ISPs maximize their profits. Note that both ISPs - Etisalat and du - are majority government-owned.
The same graph with censorship events on: https://metrics.torproject.org/userstats-relay-country.html?... Just on the start the spike, there are many events. Though I don't know how to find information on those events.
[0]: https://research.torproject.org/techreports/detector-2011-09...
I can't find anything blatant in the news that would explain something like this, especially of this magnitude. I think it might be a botnet or something similar, although that's just conjecture at this point.
It roughly coincides with news about WhatsApp and the U.S. inauguration. Both seem vaguely relevant but not very compelling or explanatory. Why would a botnet be so centralized in the UAE? Seems like the opposite of what you'd want if you could help it, so maybe they can't help it? Some kind of state-sponsored test/attack against the Tor network seems like the best explanation to me.
The wind will come. You must adapt and accept. And if you are against the wind, you must change.
Just out of curiosity: How is Tor looking these days, security-wise? Does someone have a recent analysis of the attacks Tor is facing from state-level attackers currently? Just wondering if any new threats to Tor have come up in the recent years that hadn't been considered before stuff like Snowden happened.
First thing that came to my mind was a botnet; it would be one of the easiest ways to get a huge spike in Tor usage, I'd think.