Hacking satellites is an act of war says Russian Space Agency

A Few days back NB65, the network battalion hackers claimed that they had breached the Control Center of the Russian Space Agency. And, Russia has replied that hacking satellite infrastructure will be considered as casus belli, i.e., an act of war.

Dmitry Rogozin, the Director of Russian Roscomos State Space Corporation,  said in a TV interview that any organization that hacks into satellite infrastructure will be marked as a serious crime and the individuals will hunt down by Russian Law enforcement agencies. He also added that, the space agency will share all the necessary information with Federal Security Service (FSS), the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Investigative Committee for the cases to be filed.

Have Satellites been hacked before?

Satellites have not been hacked directly but hackers have used satellites to distribute their malware campaigns. A Russian-backed Turla cyber-espionage threat actors hijacked satellite internet links to deploy malware programs to remote targets. One more case of satellite manipulation was done by a Chinese-sponsored Lotus Blossom that infected a Southeast Asian satellite communication operator to manage their satellites.

Russia denies a successful hack by NB65 hackers

Recently the NB65 claimed that they hacked and shutdown Roscosmos server (Russian Space Agency Servers). However, Rogozin has denied their claims and said that ‘Russian Satellites hacked‘ is a scam and the Roscosmos control centers are working as usual and he called NB65 as scammers and petty swindlers.

The information of these scammers and petty swindlers is not true. All our space activity control centers are operating normally. https://t.co/MY0qzlLqCI

— РОГОЗИН (@Rogozin) March 2, 2022

Later, Roscosmos asked for guarantees that the OneWeb satellites will not be used for military purposes. OneWeb is a plan to go for worldwide internet broadband network services with 648 satellites. OneWeb is a UK-based company and is part-owned by the UK government. Considering the tensions between UK and Russia now, Russia has halted the launch of Russian Soyuz rocket which was supposed to carry OneWeb satellite.

Russia also asked the UK government to sell its OneWeb share, so they may think about the launch but UK has dismissed the demands and refused further negotiations.

There's no negotiation on OneWeb: the UK Government is not selling its share.

We are in touch with other shareholders to discuss next steps…

— Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) March 2, 2022

Rogozin warned UK that OneWeb will not ensure non-military use and thus there will be no system.

М О Л Н И Я ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВО ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ НЕ ПРОДАЁТ СВОЮ ДОЛЮ В ONEWEB, СВЯЗЫВАЕТСЯ С ДРУГИМИ АКЦИОНЕРАМИ ДЛЯ ОБСУЖДЕНИЯ ШАГОВ – МИНИСТР ПО ДЕЛАМ БИЗНЕСА

Ок. Даю вам двоё суток "на подумать". Не будет гарантий невоенного использования системы – не будет системы.

— РОГОЗИН (@Rogozin) March 2, 2022

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