Hacker using laptop. Lots of digits on the computer screen.
By: Haley Lehman, Alaska Beacon
Hacker using laptop. Lots of digits on the computer screen.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report Thursday that showed Alaskans lost nearly $40 million in cyber crime in 2025.
Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel of the FBI Anchorage Field Office said it is the highest financial loss ever reported in Alaska for such crimes.
“Behind these numbers are real people – Alaskan families who lost hard-earned savings, retirement funds, and financial security,” he said in a news release.
Americans lost nearly $21 billion in cyber crimes in 2025, according to the FBI Internet Crime Report issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
This chart outlines IC3 loss trends over a 10-year period for Alaska, with reported losses exceeding $158 million. (FBI graph)
Alaskans reported the 2025 losses in 3,202 complaints to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, making it the highest financial losses ever reported in Alaska in one year. Losses went up by $13.6 million since 2024.
The FBI encouraged people to identify red flags of a potential scam to protect themselves from cyber threats and crime.
“To combat this ever-evolving threat, it has never been more important for residents and businesses to be diligent with cybersecurity, electronic interactions, and safeguarding personal and financial information,” Schlegel said.
The greatest losses in Alaska were from investments-related fraud, confidence or romance fraud, compromised business emails and tech support scans. Approximately 482 Alaskans lost more than $18 million to cryptocurrency crimes.
According to the report, 20% of Alaskans who reported losses from internet crimes were 60-years-old and older who lost $16.2 million.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 6 directing officials to develop a plan to prevent, disrupt, investigate and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations in order to stop cyber-enabled criminal activity.
“Cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes are draining American families of their life savings, stealing the benefits of years of work, and destroying the lives of our youth,” Trump wrote in the order.
A commercial bowpicker is seen headed out of the Cordova harbor for a salmon fishing opener in June 2024 (Photo by Corinne Smith)
One of Alaska’s smallest telecommunications companies is about to provide a critical backup for the entire state.
On Wednesday, Cordova Telecom Cooperative and GCI announced a partnership to lay an undersea fiber optic cable from Juneau to Cordova and a second cable from Cordova to Seward.
When open for service in fall 2027, the two cables will provide high-speed internet to small communities in Prince William Sound and northern Southeast Alaska.
The development matters to the rest of the state as well, because when combined, they will provide a route for internet traffic between the Railbelt and Outside. Currently, four undersea cables through the Gulf of Alaska are the principal routes for internet and phone traffic between Alaska and the rest of the world.
Matanuska Telecom Association opened the state’s first overland fiber connection in 2020 as an alternative, and the new route will give the state another redundant option, said Cordova Telecom CEO Jeremiah Beckett.
“With what we’ve built out, scalability wise, we could put all the current Alaska traffic on our network if needed,” Beckett said.
This map, provided by Cordova Telecom Cooperative, shows the route of the proposed FISH in SEAK cable that will come online in fall 2027. Cordova’s existing fiber route is shown in green. (Image courtesy Cordova Telecom Cooperative)
While satellite internet services like Starlink have transformed life in rural Alaska, ground-based fiber internet remains the backbone of worldwide telecommunications, delivering service faster and in volumes that satellites can’t provide.
“It’s kind of like rural communities that don’t have the ferry,” Beckett said. “Places without fiber don’t have the same access that folks with fiber do. So this is really to help connect those rural areas and give them the same access to the digital economy and marketplace as the rest of the world.”
Despite their advantages, fiber-optic cables can be vulnerable.
“Up north, it’s ice scouring … and in our area, it’s typically ship anchors and earthquakes,” Beckett said.
Alaskans have become intimately familiar with the consequences of broken cables in recent years.
Northern and northwest Alaska are particularly familiar: Quintillion’s fiber-optic cable has been severed three times in two years. The latest break wasn’t fixed for more than seven months because sea ice precluded repairs. That caused widespread problems in areas served by the cable.
In March, a break in a subsea cable left the Alaska Legislature to do business on paper for a day and knocked out both cellphone and internet service for much of Juneau. Juneau had alternatives; a temporary fix was in place within days.
Adding a backup fiber route reduces the odds of blackouts like those. Currently, Cordova is served by a single undersea fiber line through Prince William Sound to Valdez.
When the project is complete, internet and phone traffic will have three possible routes: north, west, and east.
The two cables will cost roughly $88 million combined, according to figures provided by Beckett, and the project is principally funded through two federal grants. Cordova Telecom is paying for part of the project, as is GCI, which will be what Beckett calls an “anchor tenant and partner.”
“It was a good matchup for both of our long-term goals,” he said.
In a prepared statement, GCI senior vice president Billy Wailand praised the plan, which is formally known as Fiber Internet Serving Homes in Southeast Alaska, or FISH in SEAK.
“Critical state services require network diversity,” he said. “GCI turned up the first subsea cable to Alaska in 1999 and landed a second diverse fiber in 2008. We are thrilled to partner with CTC on its FISH in SEAK project, which includes a next-generation cable that ensures Alaska and its capital city continue to benefit from the newest technologies and adds another crucial layer of redundancy to the network.”
Communities along the cable route will see huge changes, Beckett said. Residents of Pelican on Chichagof Island in Southeast Alaska, who use boardwalks instead of roads and four-wheelers instead of cars, will be able to get fiber internet access directly to their homes.
The island village of Chenega in Prince William Sound, which has about 50 year-round residents, likewise will have new access to fiber internet.
Alaska’s Lost Coast, between Glacier Bay and Yakutat, could be dotted with cellphone towers.
Beckett, who grew up in Cordova, returned to the town with his spouse 12 years ago, “basically when Cordova got its subsea fiber,” he said. “We were both teleworkers, and that created the opportunity for us to move back to Alaska, essentially.”
Since then, he’s seen internet service improve and has become head of his local telecom, which has just 20 employees.
Because it’s a cooperative, it’s run as a nonprofit, he said. That means the telecom’s goal is to deliver faster service and low rates, not necessarily generate a profit.
In Yakutat, “a few years ago, you couldn’t get cell service anywhere,” Beckett said.
“We’ve upgraded the cell service there to 4G and outside of the fishermen complaining because their wives can get hold of them, it was a huge boost for the community,” he said.
“If someone gets hurt, they can call the paramedics and not have to drive 20 miles before they get to service. … It’s giving people reasons to think about moving home, because it’s one less inhibitor to be back in Alaska,” Beckett said.
“Yakutat actually got a new clinic a couple years ago, and then with this, I think they’re going to see some good growth. Everyone likes core services, right?”
The approval means Malone will not be required to publish his personal finances and that the financial condition of three GCI-related subsidiaries will also remain secret. The finances of GCI Liberty, the parent company, are already public due to required filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In October, Malone, 84, told the Wall Street Journal that he would be stepping away from day-to-day operations of his various companies but would retain his controlling interests. Bloomberg has estimated his net worth to be approximately $10.6 billion.
The approval was published just before 4 p.m. on Black Friday. The five governor-appointed commissioners said they were granting the requests because they were in line with the commission’s prior practices, because they don’t have the power to regulate much of GCI Liberty’s business, and because “the public interest in disclosure of the financial information of (the three subsidiaries) is outweighed by the potential competitive financial disadvantages demonstrated in the petition.”
The chair of GCI’s parent company, GCI Liberty, Malone holds shares controlling 53.5% of GCI Liberty’s voting power. But Malone’s personal power has been restricted until recently to 49.32% of the company’s voting power, regulatory filings state.
Now, Malone is seeking to increase his voting power above 50%.
The commission’s Friday order does not decide that request; it addressed the combined requests for financial secrecy on behalf of Malone and the three GCI Liberty subsidiaries.
Alaskans submitted a combined 67 comments across three dockets related to Malone’s proposal. Almost all were opposed to the request for secrecy.
In a response to those comments, Malone’s attorneys said “no legitimate public interest will be served by requiring (Malone) to file his personal financial information.”
The response also said that “the acquisition … will be seamless and transparent to customers because the GCI companies will continue to provide the same services to Alaska customers under their same experienced management. There will be no operational or management changes to the GCI companies as a result of the acquisition.”
GCI’s attorneys had argued that the financial statements of the three subsidiaries should stay confidential because GCI’s competitors were not required to reveal their finances, and it would be unfair for them to open their books.
“We find that disclosure … might create a competitive or financial disadvantage,” the regulators concluded.
In addition, unlike the way that water and power utilities’ rates are regulated by the RCA, GCI’s prices are not regulated by state law.
For that reason, plus the fact that GCI Liberty’s combined financial statements are publicly available, regulators concluded, “public interest in disclosure … is outweighed by the potential competitive financial disadvantages demonstrated in the petition.”
On the request for secrecy covering Malone himself, Malone’s attorneys argued that he isn’t legally obligated to provide financial support to GCI Liberty, and thus, “requiring the submission of his personal financial information would not advance a public interest objective.”
They also argued that in 2018, when wealthy telecom entrepreneur Jane Eudy obtained full control of several Interior Alaska telecom companies by taking 100% control of American Broadband, a national firm, the RCA did not require her to publicize her finances.
Members of the public argued that disclosure is in the best interests of Alaskans.
Megan Johnson, one of dozens of people who offered public comments, said, “Telecommunications in Alaska are not just about convenience, they are lifelines for education, healthcare, emergency services, and economic development, especially in rural and Indigenous communities. Decisions made by owners unfamiliar with our terrain, seasonal challenges, and cultural values risk undermining the progress we’ve made in closing the digital divide.”
Kirsa Hughes-Skandijs of Juneau wrote, “I am gravely concerned about the idea of concealing financial information, particularly when it comes to consolidating control of a public good like an ISP, broadcast and telecommunications company.”
Commissioners ultimately sided with Malone.
“We find the circumstances presented in these dockets similar to those we considered (in 2018),” they wrote.
“We find that under the circumstances … no legitimate public interest will be served by requiring Dr. Malone to provide a statement of financial condition.”
Commissioners are scheduled to make a final determination on Malone’s takeover by April 1.
Alaska’s largest residential internet provider may soon come under the control of billionaire businessman John Malone, one of America’s biggest private landowners and wealthiest people.
On Oct. 3, Malone filed paperwork with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska asking for permission to take majority ownership of GCI Liberty Inc., the parent company of GCI Communications, Alaska’s largest internet company.
Malone already owns a majority of GCI Liberty’s voting shares, according to RCA filings, but until now has been limited by agreements that hold his voting power below 50%.
According to the filings, Malone is asking for authority to increase his voting power to “a level that would constitute control of GCI Liberty and its certificated subsidiary GCICC.”
The filings also state that both GCI Liberty and Malone have asked for a waiver that would allow them to keep their financial documents confidential.
Under state law and regulation, those documents would ordinarily be available for public inspection as part of regulators’ approval process.
Public comments on the request for secrecy are due to RCA by Tuesday, Oct. 28, and the state regulator is expected to review the takeover request after that date.
The takeover would also affect United Utilities, which provides telephone and internet service in rural Alaska, including much of the Yukon-Kuskokwim river delta region, filings show.
