How safe are thousands of satellites in space against cybersecurity threats? To answer this question, the European Space Agency (ESA) organized a cyber security exercise to test the security measures of the satellites.ESA has invited cybersecurity experts in the space industry to take control of the OPS-SAT demonstration nano-satellite. On top of that, white hat hackers also used various “ethical” hacking techniques to take control of the system.
Hackers took full control of the satellite
The hackers managed to hack into the satellite and take control of the payload’s global position system, attitude control system, and even the onboard camera.
The report on the exercise says that hackers use standard access rights to gain control and then insert malicious code using various vulnerabilities.
These changes allowed hackers to hide their actions and also compromise data sent back to Earth, even going as far as altering images captured by the onboard camera.Speaking after the exercise, a cybersecurity expert said the exercise was unprecedented, but important to raise awareness of potential flaws and vulnerabilities found in satellite systems. Thus, both existing and future satellite systems will be better protected against such attacks.
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