Hackers Take Control: Government Satellites Compromised

The cybersecurity vulnerabilities of satellites were highlighted again recently when a team of researchers from Thales, a multinational tech company, took up ESA’s Hack CYSAT challenge and managed to gain control of an OPS-SAT nanosatellite owned by the European Space Agency (ESA). The team demonstrated that they could access the satellite’s global positioning system, attitude control system, and onboard camera, and even introduce new, malicious code into the system

The ESA-owned OPS-SAT satellite, displayed here as a 3D-model, was part of a satellite hacking competition showing how malicious actors could gain control of a satellite’s systems.

While ESA claimed that it maintained control of the satellite during the test and that the researchers didn’t force the satellite to perform any maneuvers, the incident highlights the growing concern around the potential for malicious actors to hack and take control of critical infrastructure such as satellites. This has become a worst-case scenario for operators, with space-faring governments across the world looking to bolster their cybersecurity measures.

The issue of satellite hacking is not new, and there have been previous instances where laypeople have demonstrated their ability to hack satellites through ground-based systems. For example, a Belgian researcher was able to hack a SpaceX Starlink terminal using his custom modchip, allowing him to input his own code into the network. Meanwhile, a team from the University of Texas was able to take control of a Starlink signal without actually performing any real intrusion.

Overall, the growing number of satellites in low Earth orbit, along with their increasing reliance on technology and communication systems, underscores the importance of implementing robust cybersecurity measures to protect critical infrastructure from cyber threats.