Federal Authorities Warn of Threats to Satcom Networks
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation together with the country's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued warnings to all satellite communication providers to take every possible measure and improve cyber security.
The two US organizations issued a joint alert and advisory on Thursday, March 17, 2022, warning of a "possible threat to US and international satellite communication (SATCOM) networks."
"Shields Up" Initiative to Get Updated
The alert encourages all entities operating critical infrastructure, as well as any satellite communication network providers and operators. This warning follows up on another recent alert issued by the same authorities that urged US institutions to severely lower their threshold for reporting any sort of irregularity or suspected issue on their networks. This push for a significant increase in network surveillance and security was dubbed the "Shields Up" initiative.
The alert comes with prescribed mitigation actions and drops at a time when there is a big disruption of Viasat internet service delivered to customers not only in war-torn Ukraine but in other locations in Europe.
Building a Wall, but This Ttime in the Cyberspace
The Shields Up initiative is a very obvious preparatory step for possible Russian retaliation on the cyber front, in the wake of the unprecedented sanctions that the US and western allies enforced on Russia. There have been multiple successful cyberattacks on Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in the country and it's not too difficult to imagine where those originated.
Ukrainian targets were hit by several different threatening payloads over the past few weeks. The corrupted tools acted primarily as data wipers and were meant to cause harm and data loss - plain and simple, without the added bells and whistles of ransomware and extortion that regular cybercriminals opt for.
The mitigation measures and actions prescribed by the FBI and CISA include the use of multi-factor authentication on every level that allows for it, using strong password generation practices, and reviewing trust relationships with Internet service providers.
The human factor and human surveillance will play a significant role in the push to keep networks safe and sound because a significant part of the mitigation and defense mechanism relies on human actors reporting suspicious activity.