Officials from the National Security Agency (NSA) and Viasat revealed details about a significant cyberattack that targeted Viasat during the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the Black Hat conference, Mark Colaluca, VP and CISO of Viasat, and Kristina Walter, Chief of Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cybersecurity at the NSA, discussed the attack’s complexities and aftermath. The cyberattack, which disrupted Viasat’s KA-SAT modems, had downstream effects such as malfunctions in wind turbines and disruptions to European organizations. Colaluca highlighted that the attack comprised two separate incidents, with varying levels of sophistication.
The attack’s first phase targeted a management center in Italy, leading to the compromise of Viasat’s network and the delivery of wiper malware through software updates to thousands of modems. The attack left a significant number of modems offline, triggering a flood of requests from government agencies and other entities across Europe. The NSA’s involvement became crucial as a second attack overwhelmed Viasat’s systems, demonstrating the hackers’ persistence and evolving tactics.
Colaluca emphasized the ongoing threat, stating that Viasat had to rebuild its network infrastructure from scratch to enhance network hygiene and guard against future attacks.
Walter from the NSA explained that their coordination extended to protecting other satellite providers from similar attacks, and they issued guidance to satellite communication network providers and customers to adopt mitigations against potential threats. The NSA’s rigorous investigation aimed to attribute the attack to Russian actors, leading to the implementation of sanctions by the U.S. and European countries.
The sanctions, although not directly tied to the Viasat hack, financially burdened Russia and aimed to support Ukraine during the invasion. This incident underscores the complex landscape of cyber warfare and the critical role of cooperation between government agencies and private entities in mitigating cyber threats.
