15,000-20,000 second-level domains in Russia are expected to lose GlobalSign SSL certificates, with browsers such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox set to flag affected sites as unsafe or block them.
New CA/Browser Forum requirements on sanctions compliance triggered the revocations, hitting a provider experts say held nearly 90% of Russia's commercial foreign certificate market.
Hundreds of thousands of subdomains and corporate systems could be disrupted, and software for Windows, macOS and iOS is also exposed because revoked certificates can break server connections.
Mobile apps using certificate pinning face the sharpest risk: once a certificate is revoked, app-to-server communication can fail completely until developers ship an update.
Russia's digital ministry is urging a switch to free state-issued TLS certificates, but those are not trusted by international browsers, raising the risk of the Russian internet splitting into domestic and external segments.
Will sanctioning Russia's internet unintentionally accelerate the rise of a global 'splinternet'?
As Russia builds its digital fortress, what new cyber threats will emerge for the rest of the world?
20,000 Russian Domains at Risk: How GlobalSign’s SSL Revocations and Sanctions Are Fragmenting Internet Trust
Overview
The mass revocation of SSL certificates by major authorities like GlobalSign has caused immediate disruption to Russia’s digital infrastructure. In response, the Russian government urged a switch to state-issued TLS certificates, but these are not recognized by international browsers. As a result, Russian websites appear untrusted to users outside the country, leading to security warnings and blocked access. This situation risks isolating Russia’s internet from the global network, splitting it into internal and external segments. The resulting technical and business disruptions make it difficult for Russian entities to maintain international connectivity and trust.