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Data Centers in the Crosshairs

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20.10.2026

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In recent months, Ukraine has continued attacking Russian energy infrastructure while Russia has continued its usual indiscriminate bombardment of Ukrainian cities. But the past few weeks have seen something new as well. The Ukrainian military has made headlines by attacking Russian data centers, and Russia has done the same. Meanwhile in the Middle East, Iran has attacked several data centers in the Persian Gulf and seen at least one of its own data centers hit.

This is the new face of war. So crucial are data centers, to companies and to us ordinary internet users, that attacking them has become an extremely attractive proposition.

In recent months, Ukraine has continued attacking Russian energy infrastructure while Russia has continued its usual indiscriminate bombardment of Ukrainian cities. But the past few weeks have seen something new as well. The Ukrainian military has made headlines by attacking Russian data centers, and Russia has done the same. Meanwhile in the Middle East, Iran has attacked several data centers in the Persian Gulf and seen at least one of its own data centers hit.

This is the new face of war. So crucial are data centers, to companies and to us ordinary internet users, that attacking them has become an extremely attractive proposition.

On Oct. 9, Yandex, the digital omnibus giant known as Russia’s Google, posted a statement on Telegram, the Russian messaging network. “In the night of Oct. 7-8,........

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