Elon Musk: Russia is intensifying cyberattacks against SpaceX Starlink equipment in Ukraine.
SpaceX has been trying to help Ukraine stay connected to the internet during the invasion that started on February 24.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, stated this week that Russian cyberattacks against SpaceX's Starlink internet communications networks in Ukraine are intensifying.
With the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), SpaceX has delivered at least 5,000 Starlink terminals to the country, whose cities have been under siege by Russian forces since February.
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Musk, meanwhile, claims it has been a challenging atmosphere. "Starlink has thus far defied Russian cyberwar jamming and hacking attempts, but they're stepping up their efforts," he tweeted on Tuesday (May 10).
According to a Reuters piece that Musk also shared, a coalition of countries has claimed that Russia backed a hack against satellite internet networks that ultimately rendered tens of thousands of modems inoperable shortly after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister and the country's minister of digital transformation, shared this photo on Feb. 28, 2022 of Starlink internet terminals arrived in Ukraine after Russia invaded. (Image credit: Mykhailo Fedorov/Twitter)
According to Reuters, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss declared that the attack on Viasat's KA-SAT network was "deliberate and malevolent," while the Council of the European Union stated that the hack caused "indiscriminate communication failures" in Ukraine and a number of member states. Reuters noted that the United States, Canada, and Estonia verified the strikes.
Rob Joyce, the U.S. National Security Agency's Director of Cybersecurity, told Reuters, "After those modems were knocked offline, it wasn't as simple as unplugging them, re-plugging them, and rebooting to get them back up." They had to be sent back to the factory to be replaced because they were in critical condition.
While Reuters has not published the full impact of KA-failure, SAT's says the firm does provide connectivity to Ukrainian military and police units. This may have operational repercussions for first responders.
Regarding Starlink, USAID stated in April that SpaceX's terminals will provide "unlimited, unthrottled data connectivity" to Ukraine, even if fibre optic or cellular communication infrastructure connections are disrupted.
The majority of the 5,000 terminals and related Internet connections—3,667 to be exact—were supplied directly by SpaceX at a cost of "approximately $10 million," according to a tweet by Reuters space correspondent Joey Roulette. USAID acquired the final 1,333 terminals.
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