Viasat Investigating KA-SAT Outage Due to Potential Cyber Event 

KA-SAT spot beam coverage. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Viasat is investigating a partial network outage on its European KA-SAT network that may be the result of a cyber event, the company confirmed to Via Satellite in a statement on Monday. 

Viasat said the network outage is impacting internet service for fixed broadband customers in Ukraine and elsewhere. At this time, the satellite operator does not believe that government customers using terminals and service direct from Viasat are affected. 

“Our investigation into the outage continues, but so far we believe it was caused by a cyber event,” Viasat said in a statement. “We are investigating and analyzing our European network and systems to identify the root cause and are taking additional network precautions to prevent further impacts while we attempt to recover service to affected customers.” 

Viasat said law enforcement, government partners, and a third party cybersecurity firm are involved in the investigation, and there is no indication that customer data is involved. 

Viasat purchased KA-SAT, formerly owned by Eutelsat, last year when it purchased Eutelsat’s share of Euro Broadband Infrastructure. KA-SAT covers Europe and the Mediterranean region.