Picture the scene: a hacker types away at their laptop, code flying across the screen as they stressfully work. All of a sudden they’ve done it, they’ve hacked a satellite. It all sounds very James Bond, doesn’t it? But in actuality, it could be a genuine risk.
Okay, it isn’t quite as dramatic as all of that. Movies might have us believe that everything can be hacked with a laptop and a strong internet connection, but while the reality is much more complicated than that, space cybersecurity is becoming a genuine concern.
At the end of 2022, there was a total of 6,718 active satellites orbiting the planet – an increase of nearly 2,000 in just one year. Now, there are believed to be roughly 10,206 objects in space, with that number mostly made up of satellites and increasing rapidly each year.
GPS navigation, military surveillance and banking systems are just a handful of datasets carried by these space-based systems. This makes them desirable targets, so why aren’t they being hacked more, and what would actually happen if they were?
How can a satellite be hacked?
It is easy to think of Space as this far-off world, with satellites set in a galaxy far, far away, but the vast majority of them sit in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), orbiting anywhere from 99 miles to 1,243 miles above Earth.
However, physically getting to them is obviously still difficult. Instead, there are a few ways that a satellite could potentially be hacked without having to enter space itself.
“It could be a physical attack or it could be cyber. Someone could simply cut the power, or there have been tests by a few countries of kinetic anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) technology systems,” Anuradha Damale-Day, a space ecosystem manager at Satellite Applications Catapult tells BBC Science Focus.
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ASATs are a pretty general term referring to any means of taking down a satellite. Kinetic ASATs are what they say on the tin – anything that is physically colliding with a satellite such as ballistic missiles, drones or other satellites.
“Use of kinetic ASATs outside of countries testing on their own satellites is unprecedented. However, in theory, there could also be a non-kinetic attack. This could be done through a proximity operation” says Damale-Day.
“So two satellites approach each other to perform a data transfer that has been agreed upon on Earth. This opportunity could be used to actually install malware or some type of virus.”
Like kinetic ASATs, this or any other type of satellite attack is yet to happen. However, in 2023 the event ‘Hack a Sat’ took place. This was an event organised by the US Air Force to see if hackers could get into a satellite. Three teams were able to achieve this.
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What could happen?
For now, this is all just theory. No satellite has ever been hacked and the likelihood of it happening anytime soon is slim. However, this is not to say it is impossible and the damages could be severe.
“Space is an enabler. It is embedded into most of our economies and therefore there are various consequences that come from space cyber attacks,” says Damale-Day.
“The first is around national security. It’s an obvious one, but a lot of defence and military operations rely heavily on satellites. That might be to do with positions, navigations and timing or it could mean a leak of sensitive data intelligence.”
It isn’t just military concerns when it comes to satellites though. They are used in the storage of information in practically every industry with a heavy reliance on satellites in most countries.
“Satellite services support our ability to order food, and watch TV and films, but it also impacts finances, logistics, agriculture. Pretty much every industry relies on space technology and that reliance is only increasing,” says Damale-Day.
So what is stopping these satellites from being hacked or destroyed? Well, along with the obvious backlash, there are some rules and regulations… but not much.
“Most countries have their own policies. In the UK for example, we have the national cyber strategy in 2022 and a function through the Civil Aviation Authority making sure space operations are cyber secure,” says Damale-Day.
“However, internationally there is no universally recognised cyber security law that exists for space. Instead, there are essentially three things that are observed on a global level.”
The first and best-known of these is the Outer Space Treaty from 1967. This is a treaty for how to act in space. Amongst several points, it states all members should act peacefully in space. However, this is not a legally binding treaty and hasn’t been signed by all countries.
Then there is the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. They oversee international cooperation on the peaceful use of space and have mentioned cyber security before. However, this is also not established through clear regulation right now.
The third part is the International Telecommunications Union. They deal with anything to do with telecoms internationally, so they set the standards for satellite communication. While this includes some aspects of security, they mostly focus on protocol.
This all means that there are no real rules in place for cyberattacks in space. However, as interests drift more heavily towards outer space and the number of satellites increases, Damale-Day believes more global regulation will follow.
About our expert
Anuradha Damale-Day is a space ecosystem manager at the Satellite Applications Catapult. Her role focuses on the UK space community, strategy and policy.
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