Thousands of internet users across Europe lost access to the internet. This occurs after a source informed about a likely cyber-attack at the beginning of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Following a “cyber event” on February 24 at Viasat, a US satellite operator of a satellite internet service supplied by its subsidiary Nordnet in France are without internet, according to Orange.
The outage on Viasat affected almost one-third of bigblu’s 40,000 users throughout Europe. It includes Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Italy, and Poland, informed Eutelsat, the parent company of bigblu satellite internet service. On the other hand in the US, Viasat said on Wednesday that a “cyber event” had caused a “partial network outage” for customers “in Ukraine and elsewhere” in Europe who rely on its KA-SAT satellite.
However, Viasat refused to give any other information. General Michel Friedling, the commander of France’s Space Command, confirmed that a cyberattack had occurred.
5,800 wind turbines in Germany and Central Europe affected
“For several days, shortly after the start of operations we have had a satellite network that covers Europe and Ukraine in particular which was the victim of a cyberattack, with tens of thousands of terminals that were rendered inoperative immediately after the attack,” he said.
The commotions began on February 24, the first day of Ukraine’s invasion. “Due to a massive disruption of the satellite connection in Europe; remote monitoring and control of thousands of wind power converters is currently only possible to a limited extent. There is no danger to the wind turbines” which continue to produce energy, the manufacturer said.
Although, reports by Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security said that it was “conceivable that the outages were the consequence of a “cyber attack”. Military and cyber experts fear that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict would erupt in cyberattacks. However, this will result in a “cyber Armageddon” with serious consequences for civilians in Ukraine and Russia.