Viasat is the latest victim of a Russian wiper malware that suffered a hack resulting in an outage in its European services, discovered by security researchers. The malware is known as "AcidRain," and it is a part of the many invasive technologies made by Russian hackers that aim to plague different services and disrupt their operations.
Viasat Suffers from Russian Wiper Malware Attack that Affected its EU Services
hacker
A report from a cybersecurity researcher firm called Sentinel Labs identified the recent attack that took down Viasat's operations in central and eastern Europe. The attack also centered on Ukraine's now inoperable modems from Viasat's KA-SAT devices in the country. The attack happened last February 24, and the company has been looking into it ever since.
The security researchers discovered that the malware used here originated from Russia, and it has a massive effect on the company's systems. The US communication company's operations in Europe got a significant disruption on its services, rendering 5,800 of Germany's wind turbines unavailable for remote access.
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AcidRain, Russian Wiper Malware with Destructive Power
Tech Crunch reported that the threat actors used a new malware called "AcidRain," a wiper malware that has the destructive power to shut down modems and routers in a specific area or company. The malware is similar to that of the VPNFilter stage 3 plugin that resulted in significant outages for different companies back in 2018.
A particpant checks a circuit board next to an oscilloscope on the first day of the 28th Chaos Communication Congress (28C3) - Behind Enemy Lines computer hacker conference on December 27, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Chaos Computer Club is Europe's biggest network of computer hackers and its annual congress draws up to 3,000 participants.
Russia Hacks in the Recent Times
The United States is on high alert against Russian entities that aim to access its systems, focusing on the recent conflict that the international community faces in the present. There was an attack that targeted the country's Nuclear Power Facility, with the US DOJ believing it was the work of the Russians that accessed the systems.
The alerts against Russia are on a global scale, with security researchers and experts in the country saying that the European country enforces its attacks with state-sponsored hackers. The reign of terror of these hacks leaves the many corporations and companies that rely heavily on technology and the internet open to different kinds of attacks.
Russia is one of the countries famous for its hacking capabilities, and many reported cases came from the transcontinental country, according to experts. The recent hack against Viasat is a massive attack from the threat actors originating from Russia, especially with their use of the wiper malware that effectively took down its operations.
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Written by Isaiah Richard
