This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
Russia hacked a US satellite company one hour before the Ukraine invasion
What happened: Just an hour before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Russian government hackers targeted the American satellite company Viasat, officials from the US, EU, and UK have confirmed. The operation resulted in an immediate and significant loss of communication in the earliest days of the war for the Ukrainian military.
How it unfolded: The attack, on February 24, launched destructive “wiper” malware against Viasat modems and routers, quickly erasing all the data on the system. The machines then rebooted and were permanently disabled. Thousands of terminals were effectively destroyed in this way.
Why it matters: The Viasat cyberattack is the biggest known hack of the war, says Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, a threat researcher at the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne. It is also one of the first real-world examples of how cyberattacks can be targeted and timed to amplify military forces on the ground by disrupting and even destroying the technology used by enemy forces. Read the full story.
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