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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

One of the world's most advanced espionage groups has already been caught unleashing an extremely stealthy trojan [arstechnica.com] for Linux systems that for years siphoned sensitive data from governments and pharmaceutical companies around the world. Now researchers have discovered a highly unusual method that members of the so-called Turla group used to cover their tracks. They hijacked satellite-based Internet links to communicate with command and control servers.

Most available satellite-based Internet remains almost as limited now as when it was introduced two decades ago. It's slow and provides users only with a unidirectional download link. But there's something about the connections that made them highly attractive to Turla members: most satellite links are unencrypted and can be intercepted by anyone within a radius of more than 600 miles. That means a connection between someone located in, say, a remote location in Africa and a satellite-based ISP can be monitored or even hijacked by an attacker. According to research published Wednesday [securelist.com] by researchers from Moscow-based security firm Kaspersky Lab, that's precisely what Turla members did.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/09/how-highly-advanced-hackers-abused-satellites-to-stay-under-the-radar/ [arstechnica.com]

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