US And Allied Intelligence Service Accuses Russia Of Hacking Europe's Internet Network During Invasion Of Ukraine
Viasat'southward European internet network was hacked during Russia'southward invasion of Ukraine. (photo: twitter @viasatinc)

JAKARTA - Western intelligence agencies are investigating a cyber-attack by unknown hackers who disrupted broadband satellite internet access in Ukraine. Co-ordinate to three sources with direct noesis of the incident, this hack occurred to coincide with the Russian invasion, February 24.

Analysts for the U.s.a. National Security Agency, French government cybersecurity organisation ANSSI and Ukrainian intelligence are still investigating whether the remote sabotage of the satellite internet provider'due south services was the work of Russian-backed hackers, who prepared the battlefield by trying to cut off Ukrainian communications.

The digital assail on the satellite service began on February 24 between 05:00 and 09:00 local fourth dimension, merely equally Russian troops started to enter and burn down missiles and assail major Ukrainian cities, including the upper-case letter, Kyiv.

According to an official with U.s.a. telecommunication company Viasat, whose internet network was also affected, satellite modems belonging to tens of thousands of customers in Europe were too turned off by the attack. Other consequences are notwithstanding being investigated.

The hackers disabled a modem that communicated with Viasat Inc's KA-SAT satellite, which supplies cyberspace access to some customers in Europe, including Ukraine. More than two weeks later some networks remain offline, a Viasat source told Reuters.

The incident, which appears to be ane of the most significant and publicly disclosed cyberattacks of wartime, has attracted the interest of Western intelligence because Viasat acts as a defense contractor for the United States and its many allies.

Authorities contracts reviewed by Reuters show that KA-Sat has provided internet connectivity to Ukrainian military and police units.

Pablo Breuer, a one-time technologist for the US special operations command, or SOCOM, said turning off satellite internet connectivity could hamper Ukraine's ability to fight Russian forces.

"Traditional land radio simply goes so far. If you're using modern smart systems, smart weapons, trying to maneuver combined weapons, then you take to rely on these satellites," Breuer said.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on the allegations. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that information technology participated in the cyber-attack.

Russian troops accept surrounded Ukrainian cities in what the Kremlin has described equally a "de-Nazification" operation. The operation has been denounced by the West as an unprovoked attack. The attack led to heavy sanctions confronting Moscow in retaliation.

Viasat said in a statement that the disruption for customers in Ukraine and elsewhere was triggered past "deliberate, isolated and external cyber events" but had not provided a detailed public explanation of what happened.

"The network is stable and we are restoring service and activating the terminal as quickly every bit possible," Viasat spokesman Chris Phillips said in an electronic mail. He added that the company was prioritizing "critical infrastructure and humanitarian assistance."

The affected modems appear to be completely out of service, according to Jaroslav Stritecky, who runs Czech telecommunications visitor INTV. Usually, he said, the iv status lights on a curved SurfBeam two modem would indicate whether they were continued to the internet. Later the attack, the lights on the Viasat-made device didn't plow on at all.

Viasat officials said a misconfiguration in the "management section" of the satellite network had allowed hackers to admission modems remotely and took them offline. He said most of the affected devices needed to exist reprogrammed either by onsite technicians or at the repair depot and some equipment had to be replaced.

Viasat officials did non explicate explicitly what the network'south "management department" was referring to and declined to provide further details. KA-SAT and associated footing stations, which Viasat bought concluding year from European company Eutelsat, are still operated by a subsidiary of Eutelsat.

Viasat has hired US cybersecurity house Mandiant, which specializes in tracking state-sponsored hackers. They are assigned to investigate the intrusion. But spokeswomen for the NSA, ANSSI and Mandiant declined to annotate on the thing.

Viasat said government clients who get services straight from the visitor were not affected by the disruption. Notwithstanding, the KA-Saturday network is operated past a third party, which in turn provides services through various distributors.

Over the past few years, the Ukrainian armed forces and security services have purchased several unlike communication systems that run through the Viasat network, according to contracts posted on ProZorro, Ukraine'southward transparency platform. Just the Ukrainian war machine did non immediately comment on the matter.

Some cyberspace distributors are also nevertheless waiting to supplant their compromised devices.

Stritecky, the Czech telecommunications executive, said he did not blame Viasat for the incident.

He remembers starting work the morning of the invasion and seeing monitors showing regional satellite coverage in the Czech Republic, neighboring Slovakia, and Ukraine all in red. "It was immediately articulate what happened," he said.

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