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Satellites in low Earth orbit are vulnerable to hacking.
At the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas, Johannes Wilbold, a PhD student at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, presented the results of his research on satellite security. He studied three types of orbiters and found that many of them are completely defenseless against remote capture, since they lack even the most basic security systems.
"People think that satellites are well protected. These are expensive assets, and they must have encryption and authentication, " Wilbold said.
However, services like Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) from AWS and Microsoft Azure allow you to communicate with satellites by essentially just using a credit card. Wilbold estimated that a hacker could build his own ground station for as little as $ 10,000.
The researcher studied three different types of satellite, and the results were depressing. Most of them did not have authentication protocols and transmitted signals without encryption. Wilbold was demonstrating how it would be possible to take over basic satellite control functions and block the rightful owner.
However, safety issues in satellite development have proved to be a very low priority. Of the nine developers who responded, who worked on 132 satellites during their career, only two conducted penetration testing.
Possible consequences of hacking can include transmitting malicious information or code to Earth, and in the worst case scenario, satellites collide and create debris in orbit that can disable other systems.
When Wilbold was asked if it is possible to upgrade the security systems of satellites, he replied: "From a technical point of view, it is possible. But the reality is that these systems are built on very narrow margins. Existing systems simply don't have the power to run encryption or authentication. It's not practical."
At the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas, Johannes Wilbold, a PhD student at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, presented the results of his research on satellite security. He studied three types of orbiters and found that many of them are completely defenseless against remote capture, since they lack even the most basic security systems.
"People think that satellites are well protected. These are expensive assets, and they must have encryption and authentication, " Wilbold said.
However, services like Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) from AWS and Microsoft Azure allow you to communicate with satellites by essentially just using a credit card. Wilbold estimated that a hacker could build his own ground station for as little as $ 10,000.
The researcher studied three different types of satellite, and the results were depressing. Most of them did not have authentication protocols and transmitted signals without encryption. Wilbold was demonstrating how it would be possible to take over basic satellite control functions and block the rightful owner.
However, safety issues in satellite development have proved to be a very low priority. Of the nine developers who responded, who worked on 132 satellites during their career, only two conducted penetration testing.
Possible consequences of hacking can include transmitting malicious information or code to Earth, and in the worst case scenario, satellites collide and create debris in orbit that can disable other systems.
When Wilbold was asked if it is possible to upgrade the security systems of satellites, he replied: "From a technical point of view, it is possible. But the reality is that these systems are built on very narrow margins. Existing systems simply don't have the power to run encryption or authentication. It's not practical."
