Tag Archive for: satellite

Russia downed satellite internet in Ukraine: Western officials

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NEWPORT:

Russia was behind a massive cyberattack against a satellite internet network that took tens of thousands of modems offline at the onset of Russia-Ukraine war, the United States, Britain, Canada, Estonia and the European Union said on Tuesday.

The digital assault against Viasat’s KA-SAT network in late February took place just as Russian armour pushed into Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the cyberattack was intended “to disrupt Ukrainian command and control during the invasion, and those actions had spillover impacts into other European countries”.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the satellite internet hack “deliberate and malicious” and the Council of the EU said it caused “indiscriminate communication outages” in Ukraine and several EU member states.

The Viasat outage remains the most publicly visible cyberattack carried out since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in part because the hack had immediate knock-on consequences for satellite internet users across Europe and because the crippled modems often had to be replaced manually.

Also read: Russian hackers targeted NATO, eastern European militaries: Google

“After those modems were knocked offline it wasn’t like you unplug them and plug them back in and reboot and they come back,” the US National Security Agency’s Director of Cybersecurity Rob Joyce told Reuters on the sidelines of a cybersecurity conference on Tuesday.

“They were down and down hard; they had to go back to the factory to be swapped out.”

The precise consequences of the hack on the Ukrainian battlefield have not been made public, but government contracts reviewed by Reuters show that KA-SAT has provided internet connectivity to Ukrainian military and police units.

The satellite modem sabotage caused a “huge loss in communications in the very beginning of war”, Ukrainian cybersecurity official Victor Zhora said in March.

In a statement, Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection said that Russia “is an aggressor country attacking Ukraine not only on our land, but in cyberspace too”.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Russia routinely denies…

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EU and UK Blame Russia for Hack That Disrupted Viasat’s Satellite Internet

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UPDATE: The White House is also blaming the Kremlin for the hack on Viasat. “The United States is joining with allies and partners to condemn Russia’s destructive cyber activities against Ukraine,” the US State Department said in a statement.

Original Story: The European Union and UK are officially blaming the Russian government for the Feb. 24 hack that targeted satellite internet provider Viasat. 

On Tuesday, both the EU and UK condemned the Kremlin for the cyberattack, which caused internet outages for thousands of Viasat customers across Europe. 

In response, the EU is mulling whether to punish Russia. “The European Union, working closely with its partners, is considering further steps to prevent, discourage, deter and respond to such malicious behavior in cyberspace,” the governing body said. 

The hack occurred an hour before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, according to the UK. The goal was to shut down satellite internet access for Ukraine’s military. However, the hack also ensnared consumer and commercial customers, including wind farm operators in Europe.  

The EU didn’t elaborate on the evidence linking Russia to the hack on Viasat. But the UK cited an analysis from its National Cyber Security Centre, which found that it was “almost certain Russia was responsible.” The US also contributed intelligence suggesting the Kremlin was behind the attack, the UK added.

Security researchers have uncovered the malware likely responsible for causing the disruption at Viasat. Dubbed AcidRain, it’s designed to erase data from modems and routers, and has similarities with another malware strain that’s been connected to Russian state-sponsored hackers, according to the security firm SentinelOne. 

In the meantime, the EU is concerned the continent could suffer a similar incident in the future, citing how Russia continues to bombard Ukraine with destructive malware attacks. 

“​​Cyberattacks targeting Ukraine, including against critical infrastructure, could spill over into other countries and cause systemic effects putting the security of Europe’s citizens at risk,” the EU said. 

Viasat didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the US…

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Russia responsible for satellite hack causing chaos across Europe

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Russia was behind a cyber attack which caused chaos across Europe hours before it invaded Ukraine, British officials have confirmed.

Kremlin cyber spies hacked a Viasat communication satellite intending to target the Ukrainian military but also knocking thousands of users offline including a wind farm in Germany.

The attack was the first digital salvo fired by Russia and triggered fears of an all-out online war.

Information pointing to Russian agents was previously released by the satellite’s operator Viasat. The Foreign Office has now said that the Kremlin’s military intelligence bureau, the GRU, was behind the attack.

Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, said: “This is clear and shocking evidence of a deliberate and malicious attack by Russia against Ukraine which had significant consequences on ordinary people and businesses in Ukraine and across Europe.”

Viktor Zhora, a senior official at Ukraine’s cybersecurity agency, said in the immediate aftermath of the hack that it was “a really huge loss in communications in the very beginning of war”.

The European Union joined Ms Truss in condemning Russia for the hack, which affected member states across the east of Europe and shut down 5,800 German wind turbines operated by power company Enercon.

The attack consisted of a malicious software update sent by Russian military intelligence to customer terminals for Viasat’s KA-SAT satellite.

Tens of thousands of terminals were damaged by the Russians’ efforts to force the satellite offline, the Foreign Office said. It is understood the terminals need to be returned to Viasat to be reprogrammed for normal use.

Viasat’s satellite service is used by businesses for general internet connectivity and for monitoring internet-connected industrial systems.

Cyber security company SentinelOne said in a March analysis that 5,800 turbines in Germany all vanished offline at the same time in late February, the first indication that something was amiss.

The UK has sanctioned the GRU after its appalling actions in Salisbury.

Previous UK sanctions froze around £940bn worth of bank assets and £117bn in personal net worth of oligarchs and their family members, whom the Government says…

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UK blames Russia for satellite internet hack at start of war

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The attack began about an hour before Russia invaded Ukraine, on 24 February. It caused outages for several thousand Ukrainian customers – and affected windfarms and internet users in Central Europe.

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