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Subject: How To Hack A Satellite
SYSOP    4/20/2015 5:47:09 AM
 
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keffler25       4/20/2015 10:35:38 AM
Ground-based satellite encryption and control means (telemetry) means HARDWARE access because you have to AIM the uplink to a specific satellite [cluster] at a specific time in its orbit to do the hack through the satellites. So the French have traitors in their broadcasting networks and those "ISIL bozos" (see candidate list of the actual suspects--> My opinion) have some NATION STATE or its equivalent (takes specialized knowledge about targeted space assets.) helping them. This isn't something some bastard in a basement with a home rig can pull off, no matter what the Hollywood fantasy movies suggest.  You have to know where when and how to hijack the birds and that means orbital ephemerals, what kind of ground to orbit telemetry protocols, the time to transmit windows and so forth and the right kind of transmitters to use or take over, so you can hijack the satellites (plural).     
 
Candidates?
 
--Iran--not likely.
--China--VERY likely as a disguised peacetime cyber warfare test. 
--Saudi Arabia--not smart enough; they would have to hire it done.
--Russia --very likely, there is a hacker community almost second to none with access to corrupt state resources and willing to sell their services to anyone.  
--Pakistan--possible, but they are so CIA pinballed right now, that if they did it, it would be instantly known.  
  
 
 
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joe6pack       4/20/2015 11:29:08 AM
It seems like maybe the article is misleading.  Instead of going directly after the satellites.. (which I defer to Keffler on).. It sounds like they went after the ground based controls. 
 
Just pilfer some system admin's account.. and upload or shut down at the ground source.. seems like a much more easily accomplished approach.. Basically your standard hack..
 
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keffler25       4/20/2015 2:37:09 PM
That is exactly what I mean, J6P. You have to get inside somebody's ground station (multiple ones in the case of cross-checking redundant ones) to corrupt a satellite constellation. That is not as simple as putting a memory stick into a port somewhere. The hack had to be well prepared so that the instructions went to the uplink.    
 
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joe6pack       4/20/2015 3:27:51 PM
>The hack had to be well prepared so that the instructions went to the uplink.
 
 Very interesting indeed then.  I had sort of pictured it like getting access to just a set of controls on a workstation.. Client sends some instructions to a server someplace.. uploads the "off" message and down it goes..  But far more complex than that...

Yeah.. agreed, that puts pretty big limits on the pool of possible culprits.
 
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keffler25       4/20/2015 7:12:08 PM
 
Russian method. 
 
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joe6pack       4/21/2015 11:40:16 AM
Well, if their hypothesis is anywhere near correct... it goes back to poor design and security practices.  The breach they mention isn't really anywhere near the "state actor" level of complexity.  That said, as you mentioned.. once they get access, accomplishing what they did requires some sophistication.
 
 
Still, an interesting case.  Given some time, I may take a look for the write up (assuming it isn't in French)
 
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keffler25       4/21/2015 11:55:07 AM
Hey, the Russians are good at this kind of thing. If a bunch of mercenaries could write code and infect our DoD SIPRS network through a traitor and a mem-stick then a French TV network's landlines (social media on the internet) would be a cinch for them. The article  (see above)
    
Calling themselves the CyberCaliphate the group had apparently spent weeks getting past the formidable network security and did some major damage. TV5 satellite feeds send programming to over 250 million customers (households and businesses) worldwide. All eleven TV5 channels were dark for three hours before a temporary data feed was established to put something on customer TV screens.
said that these bozos got into the satellite feed, though. That's the uplink. That's a whole different kettle of fish. The only way an attachment could blank a satellite system is if the the code got into the broadcast single origin point and blanked it out on the ground before it was ever sent to a transmitter. Hence my comment that the French had a traitor in their works.
 
 
 
 
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joe6pack       4/21/2015 12:13:55 PM
"Hence my comment that the French had a traitor in their works."
 
Yup, the really weak link in securing technology is often of the people that are given access to it...
 
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