Iran's Internet Shutdowns: A Technical Deep Dive

Iran's government employs the National Information Network (NIN) and the Iranian Great Firewall (IRGFW) for extensive internet control, enacting widespread shutdowns during protests. However, vulnerabilities exist due to dynamic IPv4 allocation and IRGFW's delayed updates. Tools like Pingtunnel exploit this by using the ICMP protocol. Starlink provides another bypass, with users sharing connections via NAT and WireGuard. When the NIN isolates the country, self-hosted encrypted communication services, such as Matrix-based systems, become crucial for internal communication.