#ViaSat

[myreyisbae]

Moonlight/Holdfény (2007) promo from Viasat 3 Hungry (45 sec)

[inspirednews]

Starlink ganha luz verde da Anatel para adicionar 7.500 satélites no Brasil

O conselho da Anatel (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações) autorizou, em reunião extraordinária na terça-feira (8), a solicitação da SpaceX, empresa de Elon Musk, para a adição de 7.500 novos satélites à constelação da Starlink no Brasil. Este movimento visa melhorar a qualidade do serviço de internet fornecido pela empresa, que já conta com mais de 200 mil assinantes no país, especialmente em regiões mais isoladas do Norte e Centro-Oeste.(...)

Leia a noticia completa no link abaixo:

https://www.inspirednews.com.br/starlink-ganha-luz-verde-da-anatel-para-adicionar-7500-satelites-no-brasil

[ceciliaandthesatelli]

Viasat Satellite Attack: Should I Be Worried About my Satellite Internet?

The Internet: love it or hate it, we all use it. 

Well internet is a necessity these days, arguably on par with water or electricity. Imagine enduring the pandemic without the internet—no access to education, work, social engagement, government, the economy, etc. Internet access fuels social and economic life, and the the lack of internet leads to social and economic exclusion and inequities (aka the digital divide [1]). Thus, for harder-to-reach areas like rural, remote, and disaster [2] locations—where traditional cable or fire optic internet is unavailable—people often rely on the more expensive satellite internet. Good, right?

Unfortunately, recent events show satellite communication systems are vulnerable: 

June 2023: cyberattack on Dozor-Teleport, a Russian satellite communication system [3].

February 2022: political cyberattack on Viasat (satellite internet provider) disrupting service for over 40,000 Ukrainian/European users

So, how is this possible? What does it take to bring down telecommunication systems for tens of thousands of users? And what does this mean for me?

Note: Referencing the Viasat case throughout this article, to answer these questions.

How Does My Satellite Internet Work? 

Satellite internet is comprised of four parts: the provider, satellite, modem, and end-user. Reference this diagram.

Internet Service Provider (ISP): This is the company giving you access to the internet. They transmit and receive signals from satellites with large dish antennas.

Internet Satellites: Internet satellites can orbit in either the geostationary orbit (GEO) the or low Earth orbit (LEO). GEO satellites (e.g. Viasat’s KA-SAT) remain fixed with respect to a specific location on Earth, and cover larger areas. However, they are further away, which means higher latency. In contrast, LEO satellites (e.g. Starlink) exist. They are magnitudes closer, which means lower latency. However, this also means their coverage is smaller, and it is not fixed to a specific region on Earth. [distance diagram]

Modem: This is the hardware component, typically attached to the side of your home. They bridge you to the satellite/internet.

Satellites Seem Kind of Far, How are They Attacked?

“To disrupt satellite communications, most people—myself included—would look at the signal in space, because it's exposed. You can transmit signals toward the satellite that would effectively jam its ability to receive signals from legitimate modems” [4]

- Peter Lemme, subject matter expert

First off, how was the Viasat's KA-SAT satellite attacked? This was a two-part attack focused on the modems, not the signal.

Network Jamming: The traditional and expected part was jamming the network. Hackers flooded servers with over 100,000 requests in a 5-minute window. This overwhelmed the network and prevented modems from being able to connect and make requests to the network, thus disrupting internet services.

Malware - AcidRain: The second—and more unexpected—part of this attack was deploying "destructive commands" targeted at Ukrainian modems. Hackers accessed the server where Ukrainian customers can download modem updates and (more importantly), where automated patches are pushed to modems. Rather than sending the typical patch, hackers deployed AcidRain: a custom designed malware. AcidRain was composed of a wiper and a script. The script calls the wiper which overwrites critical data on the modem, effectively erasing it. Upon modem reboot, the machine is permanently unable to reconnect back to the network. Top Ukrainian cyber official Victor Zhora describes hack as a "huge loss in communications" [5]. Zhora is not wrong. The aftermath of this attack forced Viasat to have to ship over 40,000 modems to affected customers to restore their internet services.

Potential Other Satellite Attacks: 

The Viasat attack did not target the signal itself, as one (e.g. Peter Lemme) would expect. It did not require a signal injection, which is where the attacker (instead of the satellite) sends signals to the person's modem [6]. This disrupts communication by sending noise (jamming) or spoofed data, and brings up variety attacks:

Overshadowing - attackers signal overlaps with the legitimate signal. Attacker overwhelms the line, corrupting data transmitted over the signal, and/or generally disrupt service.

Man-in-the-Middle (MIM) - use packet capture tools to collect and inspect packets transmitted over the signal, effectively eavesdropping. These are hard to detect, because the service (e.g. internet) could be functioning as expected.

Replay - adversary resends the packet they collected. Even if they do not know the contents of the packet, this could still send noise, and disrupt service. Viasat likely attaches a timestamp or counter to the packet, to enforce packet freshness, thus preventing this attack.

Spoofing - hacker creates malicious packets to trick the endpoint into accepting forged updates or commands (requires knowledge of packet structure). Viasat likely encrypts the data transmitted, which makes spoofing unlikely, because decrypting packets is typically computationally infeasible.

These are all possible satellite communication attacks, directed towards the signal. However, Viasat's AcidRain did not attack the signal. Instead, the packets sent were completely valid because the server/ISP was compromised.

Allegedly, How Do I Defend a Satellite? 

For the Viasat case, the main security recommendation lies in the security of the server/ISP. Hackers were able to use a misconfigured VPN to gain access to the server, and the escalate their privileges—subsequently accessing the management server, network operations server, FTP server[8]. As a result, they were able to deploy their "patch" to thousands of modems—an action only highly authorized employees should have the ability to do. To prevent this, a ISP should have robust policies that define system behavior, limit user's systems access, etc.

For example, ISP's should have policies to define normal behavior, in order to flag anomalies. Viasat's "patch" was deployed at 3:02 am. These are outside of Viasat's business hours, and thus a "patch" of this scale would clearly be an anomaly from standard operation, and should require external authorization or trigger some kind of alert.

In addition, the hacker did not use brute force to gain access; they had valid credentials into the VPN. Viasat did not state the attack was an inside operation, which means credentials were likely compromised without the employee’s knowledge [8].

One possibility is that in 2021, Fortinet—the company in charge of Viasat's VPN—was attacked by a Russian group, who stole and published the credentials for half a million IP addresses [9]. Fortinet released a patch to address this vulnerability, but Viasat may not have deployed the patch. This emphasizes the need for companies to prioritize keeping their systems up to date regarding security. In addition, companies should employ a multi-factor authentication (like DUO) for login onto servers, to prevent bad actors ease in gaining access at such ungodly hours.

Beyond stronger policies and login measures, the vulnerabilities existent in a supply chain are also echoed here, where the "weak link" is Fortinet. A supply chain attack is when a hacker utilizes one of your trusted third parties as a "backdoor" into your system. Viasat is the first publicly disclosed supply chain attack related to space [9]. However, in the past 20 years supply chain attacks have been ample. Two prime cases are SolarWinds attack in 2020 which injected malware on 18,000 machines in America, and the NotPetya attack in Europe which resulted in over $10 billion dollars in damage [10, 11]. Interestingly, both attacks were committed by groups backed by the Russian government. A takeaway is that regardless your company's sector, supply chain attacks are common enough to warrant all companies to critically evaluate their 3rd party services for security vulnerabilities.

The Ripple Effect: Consequences Beyond Ukraine

How did this attack affect other countries (e.g. Germany) if Ukrainian modems were targeted? Unlike land attacks, cyber-attacks do not see national borders. As a result, cyber attacks often see spillover damage beyond the intended target. “If you target a satellite that is providing certain services to a specific country involved in a conflict, you might also be depriving a neutral country of the services that same satellite provides,” UN researcher Ortega says [4]. While this attack may have targeted the partition of modems for the Ukraine region, modems in nearby countries also fell into this partition. The lack of regional segregation on the network led to tens of thousands of people and businesses across Europe also losing satellite internet access; one notable business being German windmill company Enercon.

Enercon lost remote control of 5,800 windmills—a fleet which provides 11 gigawatts [12]. Given one gigawatt can power 750,000 homes, this fleet can provide the energy to power 8.2 million homes [13]. While impact to this energy company was a ripple effect of the attack on Ukraine, it highlights how our systems are fragile and interdependent. Targeting a single region a satellite serves has the power to indirectly destabilize other critical infrastructure in the process.

Broader Considerations

Cyber attacks are generally not great for most of the parties involved—for the companies reputation, and for people using the service, etc. Yet, for the case of satellite internet attacks, the impact is not equal across the population. The people using satellite internet are likely in more rural, isolated, or disaster areas, where cheaper cable-internet is simply not an option [14]. What this means is that these attacks disproportionately disrupt rural communities. Rural areas tend to show equal or greater rates of poverty in comparison to their metropolitan counterparts, which means satellite internet attacks particularly impact the less wealthy [15]. Further, the cost to replace hardware (e.g. modems) in more rural areas will naturally take longer, highlighting the uneven impact. In the case of disaster response, lack of internet availability could also hinder relief efforts, exacerbating suffering. Is disruption of civilian infrastructure in the name of war and politics ethical? Are there any parallels to present day, when Canada stated they will not "hesitate to shut the electricity [of America] off completely," in response to U.S. tariffs [16]? I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

Ok, Should I be Worried?

Yes and no. Satellite attacks are meant to cause large scale disruption to the public. Thus, motivation for this scale of disruption will often be political-based (e.g. Russia/Ukraine), not a simple grocery-store altercation. Thus, if you are caught in the crosshairs of a satellite internet attack, the good news is that there are likely many others in your boat. While this is not a great conclusion, the emphasis is that there is not much you can do to prevent these attacks, or individually protect yourself. However, what you can do is continue to stay informed (and woke). Next time the topic of satellite attacks/internet/security comes up—whether at the polls, the news, or your next potluck—keep in mind how critical space systems and satellite-internet is to our society as a whole, and the wide-reaching impact their disruption poses, even if not to you directly.

TLDR ehh, yes, but it's not in your control so probably not

Viasat Fallout Post here

Sources here

[080867765]

7 Tips to Help You Secure a Job Offer from Canada

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[dandelionsprout42]

Swedish corporate logic

• Viaplay in May 2023: Buys the rights to the English Premier League for Norway and the rest of the Nordics, which have long been extremely expensive both for companies and viewers.

• Viaplay in December 2023: Says they're fairly close to going bankrupt.

Who could've seen this coming. /sarcasm

[stephanleyhes]

Somehow this year has been even harder to be able to watch ski jumping than before

[stolligaseptember]

the news: sweden is through to the semis in hockey worlds!!!

me: nice

also the news, one minute later: denmark kicked canada out of worlds

me: W H A T

[bdpst24]

Egyiptomi hónapot tart a Viasat History

Egyiptomi hónapot tart a Viasat History

Neves régészek és egyiptológusok segítségével repít vissza az időben a Viasat History – a történelmi csatorna október keddjeinek estéin a sokak által kedvelt ókori birodalmat, Egyiptomot emeli ki témaként. A főszerepet ezúttal Kleopátra és lánya kapja!  Az ókori Egyiptom tárul elénk a keddenként 21 órától időzített műsorblokkban, ahol elsőként a Kleopátra titkos sírja című dokumentumsorozat…

[buddydacote]

We made it to the mystery gas station today! It’s no longer boarded up like it was in the 2000s but is instead owned by a family of Indian immigrants. I forgot to check the restroom while I was there since most stories involve having to go. We would’ve gone back to check but I had already weirded out everyone by taking pictures like I’d never seen a convenience store before.

[myreyisbae]

(Viasat 3 Hungary) Moonlight Promo (15 sec)

[cxffee-addxct]

🪫

[saywhat-politics]

The European Union is in discussions with four European satellite internet providers to explore alternatives to Starlink for Ukraine’s defense forces, the Financial Times reports.

Negotiations are underway with Luxembourg-based SES, Spain’s Hisdesat, British company Viasat, and the French-British operator Eutelsat/OneWeb.

At the same time, the FT also notes that replacing Starlink would be challenging, requiring substantial investment to launch enough satellites to provide 24/7 high-speed connectivity.

[toa-archive]

Here's a little memory test for you! Do you remember back on the 19th June last year there was a bunch of screenshots from a then lost Danish Cartoon Network Trollhunters video which you can find Here?

Yeah feels more recent to me too.

For some inexplicable reason what was once private is now live once again. Here it is, Lakserytteren lever som en trold i 24 timer! | 🇩🇰 Dansk Cartoon Network in all it's glory:

Gotta believe it was a real thing that happened this time folks :) May it haunt you as well.

For the express purpose of stopping this vanishing back into the void a copy has been downloaded with a haunting thumbnail:

And here it is on the Danish CN page for anybody thinking it's a weird prank:

Below is a screenshot of the video description and translation again for record purposes:

Translation run through google translate so may have errors:

Tomorrow Monday at 19:00 the brand new episodes of Trollhunters start on Cartoon Network! Therefore, I have challenged myself to live like a troll for 24 hours. I have to eat, sleep, play, draw and DIY like a troll and of course try to save the world from the evil trolls. See more at: https://cutt.ly/CartoonNetwork Subscribe to Lakserytteren here: / @lakserytteren1 Today we're going to try a bunch of different things to celebrate Trollhunters on cartoon network. You have to achieve a lot when you live like a troll for 24 hours. First, we're going to make a delicious troll breakfast. It is a mud smoothie and it must be filled with earth, mud, stones, crystals and all sorts of other good things. We'll also have a talk about edible slime - I'll show you how you can make it yourself and then of course we'll also draw some trolls from the Trollhunters. Last but not least, I will try to make my own crystals - completely from scratch like a real troll. I've never tried it before, so we'll see how it goes when I live a day as a Troll and Troll Hunter. ▶▶Subscribe to Cartoon Network Denmark's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaES... ▶▶Visit Cartoon Network Denmark's website: http://www.cartoonnetwork.dk You can get Cartoon Network on TV at: CANAL DIGITAL TDC/YOUSEE VIASAT TELIA STOFA Welcome to the official Danish Cartoon Network YouTube channel. It's the place to watch funny videos, clips with theme songs and interactive games from Gumball, Adventure Time, Ben 10, Teen Titans Go, Mixels, Regular Show, LEGO© Ninjago, LEGO© Nexo Knights, Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe, Clarence , Grojband, Vi' Bare Bjørne and many more. Get ready to laugh out loud and join us by subscribing to the channel!

Since Max took over the old websites no longer exist which is a shame as they had unique clips across Denmark, the Netherlands and.Sweden but can't be helped. Hopefully the games others have saved will stay put.

As one bonus bit of trivia, back when this was first discovered it was made into a discord reaction:

As you do.

[edvinception]

Viasat has updated ALW's promo material with descriptions of the characters and the first three episodes! Here's Edvin's character: https://viaplaycontentdistribution.com/title/a-life-s-worth/image-gallery/230

Wow, quite a lot going on there! But on unrelated note, what the hell is No Time to Mourn??

wow alot of spoilery content.

His character seems very different from what we are used to. A dark upbringing but also with prejudice and not every pleasant views on other people. Hopefully there's room for character growth.