- Russia has ramped up efforts to hack SpaceX's Starlink internet in Ukraine, Elon Musk said.
- So far, Starlink has managed to resist Russia's attempts to hack the technology, Musk said.
- Starlink's satellite network has helped Ukrainians to stay online during the war.
Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Russia has increased its efforts to jam SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine, but hasn't succeeded.
"Starlink has resisted Russian cyberwar jamming & hacking attempts so far, but they're ramping up their efforts," Musk tweeted.
The SpaceX CEO linked a Reuters article, published on Tuesday, which reported that Russia carried out a cyberattack against satellite broadband provider Viasat on the day in February when President Vladimir Putin's troops advanced into Ukraine, according to Western officials.
The UK government said in a press release on Tuesday that the hack left thousands of Viasat users without internet connection, affecting people across Ukraine and other EU member countries. It was the most public cyberattack since Russia began its war on Ukraine, Reuters reported.
There was no indication that Starlink had been affected or targeted in the cyberattack cited in Tuesday's reports.
Russian hostility towards Starlink and Musk appears to have grown since Starlink started shipping terminals to Ukraine after Russia's invasion and the ensuing interruption to internet access. Starlink sent the technology after Mykhailo Fedorov, the country's vice prime minister, called on Musk for help in late February. Starlink has reportedly helped Ukrainian troops stay online amid Russian's invasion.
Musk first announced in March that Russia had tried to attack the Starlink network but said that the company had, at that point, "resisted all hacking and jamming attempts."
Dave Tremper, a Pentagon official, told the C4ISRNET Conference in April that Starlink rapidly fought off a Russian jamming attack in Ukraine and defended the hack much quicker than the US military would have done.
SpaceX didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about Russia trying to hack Starlink, which has gained 150,000 daily users in Ukraine since it was activated there in February.
The company has continued to send shipments of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, according to tweets by Fedorov. The service has provided "crucial support for Ukraine's infrastructure and restoring the destroyed territories," Fedorov has said.
Musk appeared to joke on Sunday that he could "die under mysterious circumstances" following a statement that he said Roscosmos Space Chief Dmitry Rogozin made to Russian state media. A translation posted by Musk of the statement said that Starlink terminals had been supplied to Ukrainian armed forces and Musk would be "held accountable".