The satellite connection service Nordnet, a subsidiary of Orange, indicates that its partner Viasat has undoubtedly suffered a hack, thus cutting off access to the KA-SAT satellite.
As of February 24, which coincides with the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine triggered by Russia, Nordnet, a French subsidiary of the Orange group which has been distributing Internet services by satellite since 2008 in fixed and mobile, indicated that it had encountered a general malfunction on the KA-SAT satellite connection service, distributing its offers in particular to the operator NordNet. This telecommunications satellite, operational since 2011, is the property of the American Viasat, which took it over at the end of April 2021, from the historic Eutelsat.
Viasat, owner of the KA-SAT satellite, target of cyberattacks
From February 24, hundreds, even thousands of customers indicated that they had no satellite internet connection. The troubles don’t end there, and Tuesday 1er March, Nordnet spoke again to provide more information.
” Some of our subscribers are deprived of a satellite internet connection following a technical incident at our supplier Viasat “Wrote the French company, whose statement echoes chronologically the denial of service attack (DDoS) of which the American Viasat was the victim.
It is more particularly the European network KA-SAT which has been affected, thus impacting Ukraine but also several other countries of the Old Continent, including France. Remember that a DDoS attack is precisely intended to significantly slow down, or even bring down a network, by overloading it with connections.
Nordnet customers deprived of satellite internet, due to a proven “cyber-event”
There was something new in the middle of the week. Wednesday evening, March 2, Nordnet received new information from the supplier Viasat, which was then communicated to the operator’s million customers. ” Viasat informs us that the partial interruption of service on its KA-SAT satellite could be the consequence of a cyber-event “Wrote the company, while indicating to put” every effort to respond and support its customers “.
You will notice the chosen term, “ cyber event “, To not say ” cyberattack “. While there is no longer too much doubt that a computer attack is the cause of this service shutdown, the true origin has not yet been made official, even if we now know that KA-SAT’s terrestrial infrastructure, located in Ukraine, was affected. Nordnet however promises to suspend the invoices of the customers concerned, until the latter can find a connection worthy of the name. Other internet service providers, including Bigblu and Eusanet, are also reporting outages in recent days.
Normally, the KA-SAT satellite is supposed to be 90 Gbit/s capacity, with a download speed of up to 50 Mbit/s per connection (Nordnet offers up to 100 Mbit/s for its customers) . KA-SAT should breathe more soon, with the launch of the trio of ViaSat-3 satellites initially scheduled for this year. Its cumulative capacities should exceed 3 Tbit/s (1 Tbit/s per satellite), and reach 100 Mbit/s in downlink speed for the end user.
On the same subject :
War in Ukraine: ANSSI warns of possible cyberattacks
Sources: Nordnet
, viasat
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