Source URL: https://blog.cloud66.com/hetzner-connectivity-issues-due-to-sanction-busting-activities
Source: Hacker News
Title: Hetzner Connectivity Issues Due to Sanction Busting Activities
Feedly Summary: Comments
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The text reveals ongoing connectivity issues faced by customers of Hetzner Cloud, particularly linked to Iranian entities allegedly subverting sanction laws. It highlights significant implications for compliance and connectivity, with a substantial portion of Hetzner’s IP addresses being associated with sanction evasion.
Detailed Description:
The article discusses the connectivity challenges experienced by users of Hetzner Cloud, the third most popular cloud provider among the author’s customers. It specifically delves into deployment failures attributed to connection issues exacerbated by international sanctions linked to Iranian government actions using Hetzner’s German data centers.
Key points include:
– **Customer Impact**: A significant number of customers reported deployment failures, specifically due to connectivity issues between their servers and specific Hetzner servers tied to Iranian origin traffic.
– **Sanction Evasion**: The text identifies that certain IP addresses linked to Hetzner are utilized by entities attempting to evade U.S. and international sanctions against Iran, leading to their blockage by major cloud providers like Google, AWS, and Azure.
– **Scope of the Issue**: It is estimated that up to 10% of German Hetzner IP addresses may have been involved in sanction busting, complicating the network connectivity for legitimate users and potentially impacting their reputation and compliance standing.
– **Corporate Responsibility**: There is criticism directed at Hetzner for its perceived lax attitude regarding the implications of these blocked addresses on its customer base.
– **Remedial Actions**: The author discusses ongoing efforts to work with cloud providers to identify and resolve issues related to affected IP addresses, though the lack of a centralized procedure for unblocking such addresses poses ongoing challenges.
– **Recommendations for Users**: Customers facing issues are advised to escalate their concerns to both Hetzner and their support teams, consider migrating to non-German data centers, or potentially reconnect by changing their IP addresses.
Overall, this analysis underscores the importance for cloud service providers to maintain compliance with international laws and sanctions while also ensuring that legitimate customers are not adversely affected by third-party actions. It highlights key factors that security and compliance professionals should consider when selecting cloud vendors, particularly regarding the implications of geopolitical actions and operational integrity.