Pakistan 🇵🇰 The country is still subject to internet disruption: as members of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s legislative assembly voted for Muhammad Najeeb Naqi Khan as the new president of the Pakistan-administered region after months of unrest, in the east of the country, Pun­jab’s Home Depart­ment reportedly asked the fed­eral gov­ern­ment to down­grade mobile and inter­net ser­vices in spe­cific areas from Septem­ber 27 amid a pos­sible long march of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), several Pakistani media outlets reported.

The devel­op­ment came as the PTI were pre­paring for a nation­wide protest and march towards Islamabad on Septem­ber 27, demand­ing the release of its incar­cer­ated founder Imran Khan and suprem­acy of the Con­sti­tu­tion.

Ethiopia 🇪🇹 Internet and mobile services have been disrupted in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region since September 24, following the outbreak of fighting between regional forces and the national army earlier this week.

🌍 Stay up to date with the latest internet disruptions with Internet Society’s Pulse shutdown tracker.

🇨🇦🇮🇷 Canada imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials and five entities over what it described as continued human rights violations and restrictions on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, both online and offline. The individuals sanctioned are Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni; Davoud Moazami Goudarzi, head of Greater Tehran’s Cyber Police; Rasoul Jalili, a member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace; Mohsen Fathizadeh, head of the Protection and Intelligence Organization of the Law Enforcement Forces; and Ruhollah Momen Nasab, head of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and a member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. The entities sanctioned are the Iranian Audiovisual Media Regulatory Authority (SATRA), the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content, Douran Group, Yaftar Pazhohan Pishtaz Rayanesh Limited Company, and the Seraj Cyberspace Organization. Iran International, September 23, 2026

🇮🇷📡 Nearly 10% of Iran’s international internet traffic remains outside official gateways, with some users believed to be relying on unofficial routes such as Starlink. Behzad Akbari, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said in mid-September that around 90% of international traffic had returned to official networks, while the remaining 10%, estimated at about 1TB per second, was still using alternative routes after moving away from official gateways during the war. Rudaw, September 22, 2026

📱 Apple’s iOS 27 Connectivity Assist feature reportedly conflicts with NordVPN’s real-time anti-phishing protection, potentially preventing it from working properly and leaving users more exposed to privacy threats. Because Connectivity Assist is enabled by default, users may be unaware of the issue, and other privacy and security tools on iPhones could also be affected. TechRadar, September 22, 2026

"The Max Messenger: An Analysis of Russia's State-Mandated Messaging Application", InterSecLab and RKS Global, September 24, 2026

"Russia Crackdown on Bypassing Online Censorship", Human Rights Watch, September 24, 2026

🗓️ Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2026 (FIFAfrica26)
Where & when: Balaclava, Mauritius | September 28-October 1, 2026
Host: Collaboration on International ICT Policy For East And Southern Africa (CIPESA)
Website | Register

📆 SMEX Secure Communications Hackathon at Bread&Net
Where & when: Beirut, Lebanon | October 10-11, 2026
Host: SMEX
Website | Apply (deadline: September 30, 2026)

📆 IMC 2026 Hackathon at Internet Measurement Conference
Where & when: Karlsruhe, Germany | October 12, 2026
Hosts: Measurement Lab, Internet Society, UNICEF Giga, IIJ Research Laboratory, Internet Intelligence Lab, IODA, Cloudflare Radar, Sorbonne Université, Internet History Initiative, OONI
Website | Register interest

🗓️ Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2026
Where & when: Karlsruhe, Germany | October 12-16, 2026
Host: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Website | Register

🗓️ Bread&Net
Where & when: Beirut, Lebanon | October 14-16, 2026
Host: SMEX
Website | Register

📆 Remote Sensing and OSINT Analysis for Human Rights and Humanitarian Applications
Where & when: Online | October 19-23, 2026
Host: Humanitarian Research Lab, Yale School of Public Health
Website | Register interest

🗓️ SplinterCon: Nordic
Where & when: Stockholm, Sweden | December 3-5, 2026
Host: eQualitie
Website | Register