SpaceX boss Elon Musk has warned people in Ukraine to use his company's Starlink satellite internet communication system with caution.
As the only non-Russian communication system still operating in the country, Starlink is a high-risk target for invading Russian forces.
"Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine, so probability of being targeted is high," Musk wrote in a tweet on Friday. "Please use with caution."
Ukraine's vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on Musk to help the country last week. The billionaire responded by tweeting on Saturday that Starlink's service had been made active in Ukraine with "more terminals en route".
He later announced that SpaceX would be releasing a software update so that its receivers would require less energy and work from moving vehicles, per The Independent.
But Musk coupled the announcement with advice that users should activate Starlink "only when needed" and "place antenna away as far away from people as possible."
Digital security expert John Scott-Railton explained how the satellite signal could pose a threat to Ukrainian in a Twitter thread on Sunday.
"If #Putin controls the air above #Ukraine, users' uplink transmissions become beacons... for airstrikes. Russia has decades of experience hitting people by targeting their satellite communications. In 1996, Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev was careful, but Russian aircraft reportedly found his satphone (satellite phones) call killed him with a missile strike," he wrote.
Scott-Railton went on to explain that "early in a conflict [with] disrupted internet, satellite internet feels like a savior. But it quickly introduces *very real, deadly new vulnerabilities*. If you don't understand them, people die needlessly until they learn & adapt. This has happened again. And again."
"If well-meaning people rush an untested-in-war new tech into an active conflict zone like #Ukraine & promote it as 'safer'...They may get people killed. Russia has big electronic ears," he added.
If you would like to know how you can support the Ukrainian people at this time, click HERE to find a list of organizations and groups dedicated to helping those affected by this crisis.
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