Turns Out Hacking LEO Satellites Is Trivial

Meet Floor Station As A Service

You may suppose that the satellites orbiting Earth are secured towards unauthorized entry however sadly it appears that’s not the case.  The assumption that satellites are safe is generally based mostly on the idea that the {hardware} inside is a nicely stored secret, and that speaking with a satellite tv for pc is subsequent to not possible with out entry to it’s floor station.  Sadly, each assumptions are unfaithful.

The {hardware} inside industrial satellites is simple bought to have the ability to tear aside, assuming you could have the cash.  As soon as somebody has that {hardware} in hand they’ll take on a regular basis they should discover vulnerabilities, in any case it’s non-trivial to exchange {hardware} on a satellite tv for pc in low Earth orbit.  The researcher, who considerably regrets doing this analysis additionally decided you might construct your personal useful floor station for round $10,000.  That’s not low cost, however probably nowhere close to the amount of cash you may need assumed it might take.

You too can skip the bottom {hardware}, as each AWS and Azure supply Floor Station as a Service (GSaaS) now.  Once more, all it takes is a bit of cash to realize the flexibility to speak with orbiting satellites.   For example, the favored CubeSat has no authentication protocols, and broadcast unencrypted indicators.   More nightmare fuel can be found at The Register.