by SpaceX’s Starlink internet communications systems in Ukraine are experiencing increased cyberattacks from Russia, company founder Elon Musk said this week.
SpaceX, with the help of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has sent at least 5,000 Starlink terminals to the country, whose cities have been besieged by Russian forces since February.
But Musk says it has been a difficult environment. “Starlink has resisted Russian cyber warfare hacking and interference attempts so far, but they are ramping up their efforts,” he said. wrote on Twitter on Tuesday (May 10).
According to a Reuters report, which Musk also shared, a coalition of countries said Russia backed a cyberattack on satellite internet systems that ultimately knocked out tens of thousands of modems shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Related: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as seen in satellite photos
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the attack on Viasat’s KA-SAT network was “deliberate and malicious”, Reuters claimed, and the Council of the European Union said the attack caused “indiscriminate communication outages”. in Ukraine and several member states. The attacks were confirmed by the United States, Canada and Estonia, Reuters added.
“After those modems went offline, it wasn’t like you just unplugged them and plugged them back in and rebooted and came back,” US National Security Agency director of cybersecurity Rob Joyce told Reuters. “They were getting lower and lower; they had to go back to the factory to change them.”
Reuters added that while the full impact of the KA-SAT outage has not been disclosed, the entity provides connectivity to Ukraine’s military and police units. This may imply an operational impact for first responders.
As for Starlink, USAID said in April that SpaceX terminals will provide Ukraine with “unlimited and unrestricted data connectivity,” even if cellular or fiber-optic communication infrastructure connections are severed.
Space reporter Joey Roulette of Reuters tweeted that most of the 5,000 terminals and associated Internet service (3,667, to be exact) were donated directly by SpaceX at a cost of “approximately $10 million.” USAID purchased the remaining 1,333 terminals.
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