Russian military hacked into European satellites: Officials

WASHINGTON: The Russian military hacked into a European satellite internet service that affected Ukrainian military communications, according to the US government officials. The cyberattack hit the KA-SAT satellite broadband network, owned by Viasat, a US satellite communications company, as Russia began the invasion of Ukraine last month, the officials told The Washington Post.

Western intelligence agencies had launched a probe into the cyberattack that hit Viasat, resulting in a huge communications outage across Europe.

"We currently believe this was a deliberate, isolated and external cyber event," Viasat spokesperson Chris Phillips had said.

Officials from Viasat told Air Force Magazine that the attack was conducted through a compromise of the system that manages customer satellite terminals.

US President Biden has advised businesses to take added precautions against hacking, citing "evolving intelligence" that Russia was preparing to target the US with cyberattacks.

Last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a warning, saying they are aware of possible threats to the US and international satellite communication (SATCOM) networks.

Successful intrusions into SATCOM networks could create risk in network providers' customer environments.

The CISA and the FBI strongly encouraged critical infrastructure organisations and other organisations that are either SATCOM network providers or customers to review and implement the mitigations outlined in this CSA to strengthen SATCOM network cybersecurity. (IANS)

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