US Military Offers A Reward To Satellite Hackers

Uploaded on 2023-08-21 in FREE TO VIEW

Since 2020, the US military has been staging a satellite hacking contest at the DEFCON hacker convention. Those satellites, however, were not in space and were on the ground. And now a number of hacker groups are using their skills on a military-backed job totake control of an orbiting US satellite.

For the first time, participants in the competition will attempt to take control of a satellite actually orbiting in space. This competition will use teams of hackers from all over the world against each other as they attempt to breach the satellite Moonlighter.

The US Air Force and Space Force are backing this premier mission for hackers to penetrate an orbiting satellite, with the aim to secure space systems and identify security gaps that could be exploited by other countries. Five teams of hackers are competing at the DEF CON cyber security conference in Las Vegas to remotely seize control of Space Force satellite Moonlighter, currently spinning in Earth’s low orbit.

Along with trying to break in and build a data link to the satellite, hackers are also trying to keep enemy teams out of their own vulnerable system by using encryption and firewall protections. The satellite is zooming around the earth at about five miles per second, Air Force and Space Force staffers have said.

The event, which comes with a $50,000 prize for first place, may feel like a fun, sci-fi thriller, but it also reflects the growing danger of America’s enemies developing cyber capabilities to infiltrate and block US defenses.

In 2018 Chinese hackers focused on an unidentified company’s satellite communications operator in what appeared to be a mission both to spy on and explore how to gain control of the satellites, according to a report by cyber security research firm Symantec. It’s unclear if the attempt was successful.

Russia has also been improving its satellite-hacking capabilities in Ukraine after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it infiltrated the satellite network of US-based telecommunications company Viasat.

Politico: Symantec: Giant Freakin Robot: Newsweek: The Register: GBHackers

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