Hacking satellites

[alexzogh]

A Phd student gave a presentation at blackhat this year on how easy it is to hack satellites.

You might think that the satellites orbiting Earth are secured against unauthorized access but sadly it seems that is not the case. The belief that satellites are secure is mostly based on the assumption that the hardware inside is a well kept secret, and that communicating with a satellite is next to impossible without access to it’s ground station. Sadly, both assumptions are untrue.

both AWS and Azure offer Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) now which is software defined and potentially compatible with almost every satellite launched. Again, all it takes is a bit of money to gain the ability to communicate with orbiting satellites. As an example, the popular CubeSat has no authentication protocols, and broadcast unencrypted signals.

article on the subject: https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/11/satellite_hacking_black_hat/

Actual presentation is here: https://i.blackhat.com/BH-US-23/Pre...9638.800784810.1693371389-20159862.1693371389

 

[OzHybrid]

A Phd student gave a presentation at blackhat this year on how easy it is to hack satellites.

You might think that the satellites orbiting Earth are secured against unauthorized access but sadly it seems that is not the case. The belief that satellites are secure is mostly based on the assumption that the hardware inside is a well kept secret, and that communicating with a satellite is next to impossible without access to it’s ground station. Sadly, both assumptions are untrue.

both AWS and Azure offer Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) now which is software defined and potentially compatible with almost every satellite launched. Again, all it takes is a bit of money to gain the ability to communicate with orbiting satellites. As an example, the popular CubeSat has no authentication protocols, and broadcast unencrypted signals.

article on the subject: https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/11/satellite_hacking_black_hat/

Actual presentation is here: https://i.blackhat.com/BH-US-23/Pre...9638.800784810.1693371389-20159862.1693371389

That's depressing.

 

[cls]

Again, all it takes is a bit of money to gain the ability to communicate with orbiting satellites. As an example, the popular CubeSat has no authentication protocols, and broadcast unencrypted signals.

licensed amateur radio operators have been doing this for over 50 years! not just cubesats, either! amazing!

go get your license (easy 35 question test) and you will understand all this in proper context, without histrionics. you can set up your own ground station for $100 baseline, $1000 would be deluxe.

re read the last paragraph of the article. no power budget plus low risk plus low impact (cubesats generally do not have active maneuvering systems) equals meh.

 

[OzHybrid]

licensed amateur radio operators have been doing this for over 50 years! not just cubesats, either! amazing!

go get your license (easy 35 question test) and you will understand all this in proper context, without histrionics. you can set up your own ground station for $100 baseline, $1000 would be deluxe.

re read the last paragraph of the article. no power budget plus low risk plus low impact (cubesats generally do not have active maneuvering systems) equals meh.

The laptop satellites have a deorbiting capability. There are currently 73 in orbit.@120Kg. Most of it would probably burn up.