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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Mission-critical satellite communications wide open to malicious hacking:
Mission-critical satellite communications relied on by Western militaries and international aeronautics and maritime systems are susceptible to interception, tampering, or blocking by attackers who exploit easy-to-find backdoors, software bugs, and similar high-risk vulnerabilities, a researcher warned Thursday.
Ground-, sea-, and air-based satellite terminals from a broad spectrum of manufacturers — including Iridium, Cobham, Hughes, Harris, and Thuraya — can be hijacked by adversaries who send them booby-trapped SMS text messages and use other techniques, according to a 25-page white paper (PDF) published by penetration testing firm IOActive. Once a malicious hacker has remotely gained control of the devices, which are used to communicate with satellites orbiting in space, the adversary can completely disrupt mission-critical satellite communications (SATCOM). Other malicious actions include reporting false emergencies or misleading geographic locations of ships, planes, or ground crews; suppressing reports of actual emergencies; or obtaining the coordinates of devices and other potentially confidential information.
http://www.ioactive.com/pdfs/IOActive_SATCOM_Secur ity_WhitePaper.pdf [ioactive.com]
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/04/mission-cr itical-satellite-communications-wide-open-to-malic ious-hacking/ [arstechnica.com]

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