http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/08/hacker-cracks-satellite-communications-network/118915/
By Patrick Tucker
DefenseOne.com
August 6, 2015
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- A researcher says he can eavesdrop on - and even alter
- data flowing through a satellite network operated by Globalstar, which
provides communications services and equipment to militaries, oil
companies, and many other organizations. “I can say with 100-percent
confidence I did inject data back into the network,” Colby Moore, who
works for a network security company called Synack, told reporters at the
Black Hat cybersecurity conference here.
Many organizations use Globalstar products to monitor assets in remote
locations — say, equipping a fleet of trucks deep in the wilderness with
satellite modems that periodically send their locations and operating
conditions back to headquarters. The modems use the STX3 transmitter chip
to send the data up to Globalstar’s orbiting Simplex constellation, where
it is sent around the globe and back down to the proper ground station.
The STX3 doesn’t encrypt the data before it sends it. For less than $1000,
Moore bought a simple software-defined radio system and a few other
components to assemble a transceiver that allowed him to sniff the data as
it headed into space.
He discovered that not only could he read the GPS coordinates that told
him exactly where the GlobalStar-equipped assets were, but he was able to
add his own fake information to the stream.
[...]
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