Extortion Inc.
Exclusive: US could cut Ukraine's access to Starlink internet services over minerals, say sources | Reuters
"During the meeting, #Ukraine was told it faced imminent shutoff of the Starlink service if it did not reach a deal on critical minerals, said the source, who requested anonymity to discuss closed negotiations." #Musk
NFL. Ukraine military is really smart. It will be a blow to lose Starlink, but they have certainly established contingency plans for this eventuality.
@mastodonmigration @GottaLaff noone relies solely on #Starlink, espechally given it's big-ass dishes.
Even the #US #DoD uses #Iridium & #UHFSATCOM.
#SES & #Eutelsat have various commercial #Cband, #KuBand & #KaBand transponders for bidirectional data from their GSOs.
#Ukraine has both #Fiber and #Radio links (civilian and military) to link together units and emplacements. Espechally direct-burial/lie-flat fiber is used because #COTS parts are cheap, commonplace and unlike copper, they can do 160km+ without amplifiers with ample of room for splices.
Pretty shure Starlink was a mere "comfort feature" allowing units to send their drone footage from their FOB to HQ for instant #Meme|fication and "scoreboard updates" but I'm shure worst-case the #NAFO friends will just pack in some 2,5" SSDs and USB cases with the next supply trucks or have some #Skyhook-Style delivery system if that was ever needed.
NFL. Seems like they would be foolish to imagine Starlink to be secure as well. Certainly nothing critical could be trusted on the network.
@mastodonmigration @GottaLaff Obviously, all #SATCOM is insecure.
X-Band - based #MILSATCOM use proprietary encryption systems.
The best in terms of #COTS AFAIK is #IridiumPTT which does #AES256 over the air (if not the entire #IridiumNext system except legacy services) but that is a fully-managed solution with custom, embedded hardware.
Whereas most commercial satellite Internet is insecure af, tho I'm shure Ukrainians know how to setup their own #VPN!
@kkarhan @mastodonmigration @GottaLaff
Trust no network, not even your own.
@ai6yr @admin OFC it's trivial to find a transmitter when it transmits.
Also critical comms still uses #analog #PTT #Radios where only the transmitter can be detected during transmission, so troops can be commanded & warned without putting them at risk.
@jt_rebelo@ciberlandia.pt @mastodonmigration@mastodon.online @GottaLaff@mstdn.social If you look at some footage from Ukraine, you can often see some Commercial Dishes with hastily painted urban camo *inside* windowless buildings so they ain't spotted from overheas flying #drones and #ElectronicWarfare units... - So if you wounder where all the disused two-way & one-way #SatelliteInternet terminals and LNBs/BUCs from eBay went: They are serving in #Ukraine!
Specifically the Motorola XPR series, or whatever they call the EMEA version. These are not even Public Service rated like the APX series, but still well built and easy to service. They are considered commercial grade.
Last night I ordered up two MD-UV390s with OpenGD77 to run as hotspots. https://letsgetreadyinc.com/opengd390plus
Laffy
Mastodon Migration
Kevin Karhan 
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AI6YR Ben
