Western Nations Formally Blame Russia for Massive Viasat Satellite Cyberattack
The U.S., U.K., and EU officially attribute the February Viasat satellite outage to the Russian government as part of its invasion of Ukraine. The destructive cyberattack disrupts communications across Europe and disables thousands of wind turbines.
The U.S., U.K., and EU officially blame the Russian government for a massive cyberattack against satellite communications provider Viasat. This attack occurs just hours before Russia launches its invasion of Ukraine and targets the KA-SAT network to disrupt Ukrainian military communications. The joint statement strongly condemns this malicious cyber activity as an integral part of Russia's unjustified military aggression.
The collateral damage from the February 24 attack spreads far beyond Ukraine, knocking out internet service for tens of thousands of customers across central and eastern Europe. In Germany alone, the cyberattack severs remote access to approximately 5,800 wind turbines that rely on Viasat routers for monitoring and control. Months later, Viasat is still struggling to resolve the outage, having shipped almost 30,000 replacement routers to customers because the original malware damages tens of thousands of terminals beyond repair.
Researchers link the destructive incident to a new strain of Russian wiper malware called "AcidRain" that erases vulnerable modems, which Viasat confirms is consistent with its own analysis. Western intelligence agencies also connect Russia's military intelligence to earlier cyberattacks, including the defacement of Ukrainian government websites and the deployment of WhisperGate malware. In response to this unacceptable pattern of behavior, the EU announces it is considering further steps to prevent, deter, and respond to such malicious cyber operations.