TechTV October 10, 2002
Government Says Satellites Vulnerable to Hackers
By Becky Worley, Tech LiveA new report from the General Accounting Office cites commercial satellites as possible targets for terrorism and hacking. See why many are fearful tonight on "Tech Live."
The report, presented to a congressional subcommittee, cites computer network intrusion, transmission jamming, and the use of unencrypted data for satellite control and communication as vulnerabilities. The threat of physical attack on a commercial satellite facility also is a possibility. Now the GAO is suggesting standards and regulations to keep commercial satellites safe.
Commercial satellites are more than tools for entertainment and newsgathering. But the workload of satellites is diverse and growing.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org says satellites are a serious part of our national well being.
"Cable TV, broadcast TV, inventory control, cellphones, pagers. Just about every facet of the modern information society at some time or another is being transmitted by satellite," Pike says. "They are essential to the modern economy."
It's not just the private sector. During Operation Desert Storm, commercial satellites accounted for 45 percent of military communication traffic. More recently, they have helped transmit surveillance data in the war against terror.
Pike says, "Drones used satellites a lot for those unmanned air vehicles flying over Afghanistan. They had to use commercial satellites to get that imagery back to the United States."
The GAO report explains why commercial satellite security needs to be reviewed and upgraded. One of the biggest issues is that control of satellites is performed through unencrypted channels.
Called TT&C (Telemetry Tracking and Control), these commands can be spoofed by an attacker uplinking commands.
The GAO report suggests commercial satellite companies scramble their control signals or spread them across different spectrums to make uplinking a spoofed instruction set more difficult.
The overall recommendation from the GAO is to put the control of commercial satellites under the regulatory control of the US government.
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