Sometimes access to portals located in Azerbaijan's ".gov.az" domain is not possible from foreign countries. There is an opinion that since critical information systems are located in this domain zone, ".gov.az" traffic is not always routed abroad.
Regarding the topic, Medianews.az quoted Elvin Abbasov, chairman of the Azerbaijan Information and Communication Technologies Industry Association, who stated that, in general, it is a common practice for the ".gov.az" domain to be accessible from foreign countries: "This is important for international cooperation, information accessibility, and for citizens living abroad to be able to benefit from state services. However, in some cases, cybersecurity specialists, particularly 'threat intelligence' researchers, can detect or predict possible attacks in advance. In exceptional situations where such risks are identified, the domain's external access may be restricted. This measure aims to prevent possible attacks and protect systems."
On the other hand, there are state resources whose functional significance for citizens living abroad is not present. In such cases, for security and data protection purposes, a one-time block on external access to the domain can be imposed. In other words, the general approach is that external access is restricted only when necessary and after assessing security risks."
Nailə Qasımova,
Medianews.az
