Value chain · CLM-0758
In plain terms
Viasat's own report, about five weeks after the attack, says it had found no evidence that the satellite itself or its main ground stations were directly involved, and that its analysis of affected modems found no impact on their physical or electronic parts and no evidence of tampering with modem software or firmware images, yet the service still went down across much of Europe.
The claim as recorded
The same report states that Viasat found no evidence that any end-user data was accessed or compromised, that customer personal equipment was improperly accessed, or that the KA-SAT satellite itself or its supporting satellite ground infrastructure were directly involved, impaired or compromised, and separately that its analysis confirmed no impact or compromise of any modem physical or electronic components, no evidence of compromise or tampering with Viasat modem software or firmware images, no evidence of supply-chain interference, and no evidence that standard modem software or firmware distribution or update processes involved in normal network operations were used or compromised in the attack; so a service outage across much of Europe was produced without any evidence of the space segment being touched.
Scope and limits
These are statements of an absence of evidence by the affected operator, made while its own investigation was ongoing, and they are evidence of what Viasat stated on 30 March 2022 and nothing more. Absence of evidence in a five-week-old investigation is not evidence of absence, and "no evidence that the satellite was directly involved" is a narrower statement than "the satellite was not affected". The final sentence carries Viasat's own qualifier "To date". This claim concerns one incident on one consumer broadband partition and establishes nothing about the resilience of any other system.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
, verbatim: "There is no evidence that any end-user data was accessed or compromised, nor customer personal equipment (PCs, mobile devices, etc.) was improperly accessed, nor is there any evidence that the KA-SAT satellite itself or its supporting satellite ground infrastructure itself were directly involved, impaired or compromised." Same document, verbatim: "Viasat has conducted an exhaustive analysis of impacted modems and confirmed no anomalies or impacts to any electrical components, no impact or compromise of any modem physical or electronic components, no evidence of any compromise or tampering with Viasat modem software or firmware images and no evidence of any supply-chain interference." Same document, verbatim: "To date, Viasat has no evidence that standard modem software or firmware distribution or update processes involved in normal network operations were used or compromised in the attack."
Basis: stated absence of evidence, by system segment
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-011 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0758
CLM-0758, Energy Aperture, as of 2022-03-30.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-230
- CLM-0757In its own report on the February 2022 attack, Viasat says the attacker got in through a misconfigured VPN device, reached the network...CLM-0765Searching all fourteen security and defence sources for anything about insurance or liability turns up no premium, no cover limit and no...