Comment on Russia is using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite devices in Ukraine, sources say

• gardylou@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  [deleted]

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  • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Really? Let’s see…

    • Purchase a prepaid Visa card from somewhere without cameras, preload it with $1k.
    • Using a library computer, order a Starlink device to a post office, general delivery under a pseudonym.
    • Pick up said order using a fake ID with the pseudonym previously mentioned.

    Congrats! You are now the proud owner of a Starlink dish, under a fake name, with no traceable evidence left behind of who you actually were.

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• rdri@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The idea that they aren’t able to come up with a credit card with a Ukrainian name that looks 100% legitimate to a billing company is farcical.

  I see you don’t know how credit card numbers work. You may also not be aware of the fact that credit cards aren’t working in Russia for almost 2 years.

  Let me just ask you point blank, do you think the CIA could manage to purchase a Starlink, activate it, and use it, without anyone having any idea it was the CIA that did all that?

  Just one or two is easy to manage. A dozen is much more difficult already, provided Starlink manages some security and have access to metadata (data that ultimately can’t be faked such as location, accounts, device id).

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  • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    … meaning that one of their many worldwide operatives could just get a credit card. Like, say, in Ukraine.

    You’re focused way too hard on “following the law and doing things by the book” without realizing Russia is more of a “do what it takes.”

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    • rdri@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah okay. Let’s say we covered the billing. What about devices id, their origin and location? Those are not purchased through Ukraine and Starlink is ought to know that.

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      • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Who says they weren’t purchased in Ukraine?

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      • fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Since when can you not spoof any of that? Grab a used android phone from local used market. Put any rooted rom on it. Spoof the gps… Device id is irrelevant at that point. As for origin, not sure what you mean by that, you can just order the starlink equipment to a random address in a different country, it will look legit. As others said, it’s trivial to bypass/spoof all that metadata.

        Once you got the connection up and running you just use a vpn to hide everyrhing.

        The only thing they could do is block starlink for a whole region, that would affect everyone in there. But you still couldn’t distinguish who is using the service.

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