The speed with which Starlink responded to requests for internet connectivity in Ukraine was admirable, but now, the firm is under attack.

Early last week Starlink chief executive Elon Musk noted that Starlink terminals near areas in the Ukraine where fighting was happening, were being jammed. One of the reasons these terminals were being jammed appears to be because Starlink was one of the only non-Russian communications systems that were still working.

But things deteriorated over the course of the week and now SpaceX has been tasked with defending its network of satellites.

“SpaceX reprioritized to cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming,” Musk tweeted at the weekend. The downside of this is that this pivot will cause delays in Starship and Starlink.

SpaceX reprioritized to cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming.

Will cause slight delays in Starship & Starlink V2.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022

The good news is that SpaceX has found a way to bypass the jamming for now, but it’s unclear whether there are other concerns. Musk did use the opportunity to joke about how this was free quality assurance testing which, while distasteful, is a rather interesting point.

Beyond the jamming and Starship delays, Musk has also taken a hardline as regards censorship. Ukrainian government officials including Vice Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov have been asking big tech firms to stop carrying news from RT News and Sputnik.

Those calls have graduated to dangerous territory with access to the internet on the line for Russians. Musk has said that he will not be abiding any calls for censorship unless there is a gun to his head.

With the war raging on, this won’t be the last time we hear about calls to censor the internet in Russia but we hope cooler heads will prevail and unthinkable acts don’t become reality.

[Via – Space.com]