The growing threat of cyber-attacks and network hacking has reached the satellite-space sector, posing a growing challenge to the satellite operators.
Because the satellite system are the critical components for the Nation to a modern military, they have become an attractive target of cyber attacks.
A security firm uncovered a number of critical vulnerabilities,
including hardcoded credentials, undocumented and insecure protocols,
and backdoors in the widely used satellite communications (SATCOM)
terminals, which are often used by the military, government and industrial sectors.
By exploiting these vulnerabilities an attacker could intercept,
manipulate, block communications, and in some circumstances, could
remotely take control of the physical devices used in the
mission-critical satellite communication (SATCOM).
Once the attacker gained the access of the physical devices used to
communicate with satellites orbiting in space, he can completely disrupt
military operations and flight-safety communications of
mission-critical satellite communications (SATCOM), researchers have
warned in a 25-page white paper titled “A Wake-up Call for SATCOM Security,” published Thursday by the Security consultancy IOActive.
Thousands of SATCOM devices found to be vulnerable and even if one of
the affected devices compromised, the entire SATCOM infrastructure could
be at risk, including Ships, aircraft, military personnel, emergency
services, media services, and industrial facilities (oil rigs, gas
pipelines, water treatment plants, wind turbines, substations, etc.).
IOActive reported various vulnerabilities in Tactical Radios & Networking Terminals, including:
- Harris BGAN Terminals
- Hughes BGAN M2M Terminals
- Cobham BGAN Terminals
- Marine VSAT and FB Terminals
- Cobham AVIATOR
- Cobham GMDSS Terminals
According to the Guardian, British manufacturers Cobham and Inmarsat, as
well as Harris Corporation, Hughes and Iridium in the US made such
satellite systems that were easily hackable, and any foreign government
or agency can track and target the location of units and soldiers.
According to the researchers, Harris RF-7800B terminals that
offers a high-performance satellite solution for voice and data
connectivity to military is also vulnerable to cyber attacks and
successful exploitation could allow an attacker to install malicious
firmware or execute arbitrary code.
Reported vulnerabilities also affect the US military aircraft equipped with the Cobham AVIATO,
which is designed to meet the satellite communications needs of
aircraft and a malicious attacker could disrupt flight communication.
IOActive is currently working with government CERT Coordination Center
to alert each manufacturer to the security holes they discovered. "Until
patches are available, vendors should provide official workarounds in
addition to recommended configurations in order to minimize the risk
these vulnerabilities pose." IOActive advised.
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