Russia conducts attacks from space

Today, using satellite infrastructures to wage war is commonplace. Imaging and telecommunications satellites are tools for coordinating troops. To disrupt this coordination, the Russian army is targeting the satellites used by the Ukrainian army. However, since Ukraine does not really have its own satellites, there is collateral damage.

For years, Russia has shown its fangs. The Kremlin has a great “tactical” capacity in space. In 2021, the Russian army demonstrated this by destroying a satellite in orbit by a shot of missile. But, for the moment, Russia has not decided to openly attack a commercial satellite coming from a NATO country. It is more difficult to attribute with certainty the cyberattacks to Russia.

From the start of the invasion, the National Recognition Office (NRO), federal intelligence office in the United States and pilot of a whole fleet of American spy satellites, warned of possible cyberattacks on commercial satellites, in particular those used by the Ukrainian government. One of the first examples was the cyberattack of the KA-SAT telecommunications satellite of the American company Viasat. This satellite served Europe and in particular Ukraine. Result: several tens of thousands of modem of the Orange Nordnet subsidiary were taken out of service.

GPS disruption in Ukraine

On March 4, the American company HawkEye 360, which specializes in geospatial analysis, announced that it had detected interference in communications radio between the ground and the network GPS in the region of Ukraine and surrounding areas. The first interferences had been detected as soon asfall last. Meanwhile, Russian troops were preparing for the invasion and carrying out exercises on the border.

HawkEye 360 ​​has a constellation small satellites specialized in detecting radio signals from the surface. The constellation monitors these signals and is able to locate their origin on the surface. Last November, interference was detected near the border between the separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the rest of Ukrainian territory.

More recently, the constellation has located interference from the north of Chernobyl a few days before the invasion. The region is now under the control of the Russian army. It’s not really a cyberattack here, but more attempts to jam a signal from a satellite network.

Russia does not use the (American) GPS network for satellite positioning but its own network called Glonass. In Europe, we use Galileo.

The Western response

Russia has always been in the sights of Western powers when it comes to satellite security. China is also notorious for making dangerous commercial satellite approaches. It is with these two allied powers in sight that the SpaceForce was born in the United States. Identical scenario with the creation of the Space Command in France.

The Ukrainian government has called for help in obtaining radar images taken by satellite. We have already seen the capacity of commercial imaging satellites in the optical domain to observe troop movements from above, but these satellites are not able to see through clouds. In Ukraine, the weather report is not always mild and the sky is often overcast. The Ukrainian army therefore needs radar imaging in addition and also see at night.

After a refusal from South Korea, Canada agreed that the company MDA share radar images taken with synthetic aperture radar (Synthetic Aperture Radar -SAR). This technology allows a better resolution.

American side, SpaceX delivered several terminals to receive the signal from the Starlink constellation. Residents can therefore stay connected to Internet. This operation was also welcomed by the command of the space forces in the United States. SpaceX has also chosen to focus more resources on satellite cybersecurity, in particular to fight against jamming of Starlink network signals in regions close to conflict zones, such as Ukraine.