The private space company SpaceX, in just four launches, became the operator of the largest satellite constellation in Earth orbit, and the plans are to increase the number of vehicles 175 times. This fact makes one wonder what threats to mankind carry man-made "constellations" in the near future. Ironically, the primary issue is not the potential littering of near space, but vulnerability to cybercriminals.
The main goal of projects such as Starlink (SpaceX, USA), OneWeb (UK), Kuiper (Amazon, USA) is to provide broadband Internet access around the globe. Each orbital constellation will differ in composition and some characteristics of data transmission systems, but they are all fundamentally similar. These are relatively inexpensive (the order of prices is hundreds of thousands of dollars excluding launch) and small (100-300 kilograms) spacecraft (SC) operating, in contrast to the existing satellite communication systems, in a low circular orbit (200-1200 kilometers) or orbits …
The low cost of each individual spacecraft (and, accordingly, of the entire project as a whole) is determined by the use of industrial components that are mass-produced, as well as by conveyor assembly of satellites. Moreover, each of these products has its own propulsion system (to change the orbit and orientation), a solar panel and a block of several transceivers. And the Starlink satellites, for example, will communicate with each other using a laser beam, but so far the first phase of spacecraft in orbit (240 pieces) does without it.
In an ideal situation, everything looks great: you buy a budget terminal for yourself (the expected cost is up to a thousand dollars) and absolutely everywhere you can watch YouTube, read Wikipedia and download torrents (of course, only with Linux distributions). However, the devil is hidden in the details - after all, we do not live in an ideal world. And the site Phys.org recently talked about this, or rather, one of the authors of the subsidiary project The Conversation. This portal is intended for scientists, university teachers and students, so that they can express their opinions, analyze and post their articles. Each material is necessarily checked by professional journalists and more experienced community members.
Having collected together a huge amount of information available in open sources, William Akoto came to the conclusion that hackers are the main threat to people and organizations using the services of such satellite communication providers. If Starlink, OneWeb and other projects achieve at least most of the declared characteristics, their audience will grow like an avalanche. Such an Internet can be very beneficial and convenient on the high seas, in remote regions, as well as on airplanes and even in large cities at facilities where it is temporarily or permanently impossible to conduct an alternative communication line.
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One of the key advantages of all such "constellations" of satellites in low orbit - low signal latency - can be of interest to several types of very important clients at once. First, these are infrastructure facilities and utilities in cases where data from them must be obtained promptly. Secondly, these are the military, who rather quickly "try out" the ability to control, for example, drones in real time (signal lag is less than 100 milliseconds), and not as it is available now with a delay of 0.5-4 seconds, or even more … Thirdly, if the signal delays can be reduced to the promised minimum, Starlink and its competitors will become a very likely tool for traders and financial institutions, and this is money, a lot of money.
The problem with all these satellites is their main advantage - their low cost. Manufacturing companies are saving and will save on everything, which means that not the most obvious issue of cybersecurity can "fall under the knife." If you add to this mass-produced electronic components that are relatively easy to find and study, it turns out that hackers have all the cards in their hands. Attackers gain the ability to analyze targets in such detail as has never been possible for spacecraft.
And what is most dangerous is the lack of a legislative framework and regulations related to this issue. Who will be responsible for the overlooked vulnerability that caused the hackers to hack several satellites and displace them from orbit? And if the criminals intercepted the traffic and, with the help of an extraterrestrial data exchange node, obtained important information, or even access to the country's infrastructure facilities, how will responsibility be distributed in this case?
The cybersecurity issue can manifest itself at all stages of the production process of projects like Starlink and OneWeb. The use of mass electronic components, and not made to order or in-house, leaves the opportunity for the contractor to add backdoors ("back doors") to the design. The same goes for software, and almost to a greater extent.
These are not far-fetched situations: in the recent history of mankind, there is already at least one confirmed hacker attack on a satellite. In 1999, attackers were able to remotely penetrate the internal network of the Goddard Space Flight Center and gained access to the computers responsible for monitoring the X-ray orbital observatory ROSAT. It is not known whether this happened on purpose or not, but cybercriminals experimented with various commands to the spacecraft and eventually disabled it.
As a solution, we can propose the introduction of international standards for the creation and management of private satellite constellations and more stringent certification of such projects. Undoubtedly, Starlink, Kuiper and OneWeb are progressive technologies that are almost certainly beneficial. However, along with progress, risks always keep pace, sometimes serious ones. This is not a reason to abandon a bright future with Internet access from anywhere in the world, but a number of measures must be taken so that it is not overshadowed by the catastrophic consequences of rash decisions.
Vasily Parfenov
