A team of university researchers in the US has spent the last few years guiding satellites over their campus in Southern California. found that most satellite communications are not private.
To do this, the team used approximately US$800 ($1,124 CAD) worth of equipment, all of which was readily available to them, suggesting that anyone could figure it out with enough knowledge. Using their homemade satellite interceptor, the team was able to intercept regular calls, messages, military conversations and more.
Right now they are presenting their results at a computer science conference in Taiwan, but the paper Wired, They mentioned that they have spent the last year notifying companies that this data is available, and many of them are now encrypting it.
It should also be noted that these researchers only focused on geostationary satellites, not the newer low-orbiting versions used for things like Starlink.
Although this security issue has now become known, the Johns Hopkins University professor who reviewed the paper is concerned that it will take years for the satellite industry to catch up and secure all of its traffic. Many of these systems are outdated and will require more effort to secure than others.
In telecommunications, this article found that T-Mobile traffic was transmitted to satellites, but only half of the data was encrypted. If it had gone through the T-Mobile tower before it was intercepted, it would have been encrypted, but messages and calls coming into the tower were vulnerable.
Source: University of California San Diego and University of Maryland
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