[Reading Science] Satellite Hacking Level Is 'Piece of Cake(?)'

US Air Force Hosts First-Ever Real Satellite Hacking Competition
3 Teams Succeed and Win Prizes... "An Opportunity to Strengthen Security"

Is it possible to hack a satellite that is actually orbiting? Recently, at a hacking competition, hackers broke through the U.S. Air Force's defenses, proving that it is possible not only in simulations but also in reality, drawing significant attention.

Hacking (Image=Getty Images Bank)

On the 16th (local time), the U.S. space news outlet Space.com reported that such results emerged at the satellite hacking competition (Hack-A-Sat) hosted by the U.S. Air Force targeting an actual orbiting satellite. Although the U.S. Air Force had held satellite hacking competitions before, they were conducted through simulations. This time, for the first time ever, teams were tasked with hacking a satellite actually orbiting the Earth, and the successful team was awarded. The target satellite was a small CubeSat named 'Moonlighter,' jointly developed by Aerospace Corporation and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. It is a real satellite orbiting Earth, launched on June 5 aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

The competition was held from the 11th to the 14th as part of DEF CON, the world's largest cybersecurity conference held annually in Las Vegas, USA. A total of five teams competed, and three succeeded in hacking the satellite. Notably, the team named 'mHACKeroni,' composed of cybersecurity experts from Italy, won the competition and received a prize of $50,000.

In this competition, participating teams successfully completed the task of hacking Moonlighter to command it to photograph a ground target restricted by the system and transmit the results to the ground station. Through this real satellite hacking simulation contest, the U.S. Air Force and Space Force aim to use it as an opportunity to improve satellite security system vulnerabilities. The U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command stated, "Moonlighter is the first hacking sandbox in space," adding, "It will raise public awareness of the importance of space cybersecurity and serve as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between related industries and governments to build more robust space systems for the safety of the U.S. and the world."

Recently, as the uses of satellites have expanded, including space internet, the importance of satellite security has been growing day by day. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Elon Musk, who supported Ukraine, lamented that SpaceX's Starlink satellites were frequently subjected to cyberattacks by Russia. There have also been actual hacking cases. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that in 2011, two U.S. government satellites were hacked by Chinese military hackers, disrupting their missions. In October 2007 and July 2008, NASA-operated Landsat 7 satellites were hacked for more than 12 minutes each time, causing operational disruptions. In June and October 2008, the Terra AM-1 satellite was hacked, suffering interference for about 2 and 9 minutes respectively. The hackers, presumed to be affiliated with the Chinese military, are believed to have accessed these satellites responsible for Earth climate and ground monitoring through a ground station in Norway.