Elon Musk says Russia has stepped up efforts to jam Starlink satellite Internet in Ukraine

Last week, Elon Musk said that Russia had stepped up efforts to jam SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine, but without success. “Starlink has resisted Russia’s jamming and hacking efforts to date, as the company ramps up its efforts,” Musk wrote in the tweet.

The SpaceX CEO also cited a similar move when Russia carried out a cyberattack against the broadband satellite of supplier Viasat on a day in February 2022, when the President’s military Vladimir Putin entered Ukraine, and recently Western officials have publicly concluded this is Russia’s responsibility.

The UK government said in a press release that the hack left thousands of Viasat users without internet connectivity, affecting people across Ukraine and other EU member states. This is the most overt cyberattack since Russia began its war with Ukraine.

Back to the present matter, there is no indication that Starlink Satellite Internet has been affected in the cyber attack cited in the latest reports. However, it can be seen that Russia’s hostility towards Starlink and Musk seems to have increased since the Starlink satellite Internet terminals were shipped to Ukraine, after the Russian invasion made Internet access work. then severely disrupted in this country.

Elon Musk submitted the technology after Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister, called for Musk’s help at the end of February 2022. Starlink satellite internet is said to have helped Ukraine’s military get online amid the Russian invasion.

Musk first claimed that Russia had attempted to hack the Starlink network but said that the company had “resisted all such hacking and jamming attempts”. On April 22, Dave Tremper, director of electronic warfare for the Office of the Secretary of Defense told the C4ISRNET conference that the Starlink satellite Internet system was quickly able to withstand the Russian jamming attack in Ukraine. , and Starlink counterattacked the attack faster than the US military could do, so there was absolutely no consequence or damage.

Tremper said that the day after reports of a Russian jamming attack surfaced, “Starlink typed in a line of code and fixed it immediately,” and suddenly the Russian attack “didn’t work anymore.” “. He said the countermeasures Starlink used was “awesome”, adding: “The way they do it is fascinating to me”.

Tremper said the US has a “major timeline for making those kinds of repairs,” adding: “There’s a really interesting case study to look at the agility that Starlink has in its capabilities. problem-solving ability”.

“In the way that Starlink can upgrade when a threat emerges, we need to learn from them to have that agility,” he continued.

Originally, the Starlink satellite Internet system has had 150,000 daily users in Ukraine since it was activated in February 2022. Elon Musk has continued to send shipments of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, according to Fedorov’s tweet. The service has provided “important support to Ukraine’s infrastructure and the restoration of destroyed territories,” Fedorov said. And last month, experts told Insider that Starlink could pose a danger to users in Ukraine because radio signals can be tracked, and Russia from there is easy to target.

‘If I die under mysterious circumstances, that’s great’: Elon Musk embroiled in war of words with Russian space chief

On May 8, Tesla CEO Musk joked that he could “die under mysterious circumstances,” following a statement made by Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian state-run Space Director of Roscosmos. A translation posted by Musk of the statement says that Starlink terminals have been supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces and Musk will be “responsible”.

“Elon Musk is engaged in providing communication equipment military for the fascist forces in Ukraine,” Dmitry Rogozin said in a post on the messaging app Telegram, “And for this, Elon, you will have to take responsibility like an adult — even if you play dumb. no matter how much”.

In response, Elon Musk said, “If I die under mysterious circumstances, that’s great”, followed by “I will do my best to survive”. Shortly after, Roscosmos Space Director Dmitry Rogozin responded to Musk’s cryptic tweets about a mysterious death via his own social media account.

“No one needs you. Don’t be foolish. Today my country celebrates a big day — Victory Day against Fascism.” He added: “After what you have done by providing means of communication to Nazi Ukraine, unfortunately I cannot congratulate you on this holiday. Think, Elon, you are on your side. any?”.

The Kremlin’s false claims that Ukraine is being administered by a fascist or Nazi regime have been widely criticized by the West as an attempt to justify Moscow’s invasion. The Kremlin has repeatedly made unfounded claims when it is said that it is seeking to “denuclearize” Ukraine with so-called “special operations” in this country. But Moscow’s claims about Nazism in Ukraine have been refuted by Western governments. In March, US President Joe Biden criticized this statement by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “obscene”.