When Satellites Go Dark

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning, reaching for your phone or laptop and realizing it’s not so useful as it used to be. GPS navigation - gone. Emergency communications - silent. Stock trades - frozen. Flight schedules - grounded. Television and radio signals - disappeared.

It may sound like science fiction, but it happened, not to that catastrophic extent, but enough to shake our global confidence, in 2022. The Viasat hack, one of the largest public disruptions of satellite internet service, served as a strong warning. While attackers targeted ground-based infrastructure rather than taking direct control of the satellite itself, the incident revealed how interfering with essential support systems can disrupt entire economies, communications and the safety and security we often take for granted. We have entered an era where the front lines of cyber warfare stretch far beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

Our Invisible Reliance on Satellite Technology

Satellites power much of our modern world. They link continents, guide rescue efforts, predict disasters, and track hurricanes and wildfires in real time. From navigation for shipping lanes to weather forecasting that saves lives, they’re critical to aviation, agriculture, mapping, broadcasting, financial transactions, and even space exploration.

When satellites fail, we feel the ripple effect in ways that can shatter trust and threaten stability. That’s why the Viasat incident was so much more than a headline.

“If it can be done, someone is trying to do it.”

This simple phrase captured the reality of our digital world, and now, our orbital domain. Hackers, criminals, state-sponsored threat actors, everyone is looking upwards. After all, satellites are extraordinarily valuable targets. Disrupt one service in space and you can affect millions, if not billions of people.

Threats and Risks in Orbit

What makes cybersecurity in space so challenging and urgent? Let’s look at the range of threats faced:

Supply Chain Attacks: If even a single component, potentially sourced from thousands of global suppliers (Airbus, for example, works with over 20,000 smaller vendors, some contributing directly to software), is compromised before launch, that hidden vulnerability or malware is already in orbit.
Direct Network Attacks: Services like Microsoft and AWS’s “Ground Station as a Service” are revolutionizing how we interact with satellites, but they also create new cyberattack surfaces. If a hacker breaches these cloud-based ground systems, they could compromise the data, or even the satellite itself. So, hacking satellites has become an issue of hacking the cloud.
Software Vulnerabilities and Patching Problems: Because a satellite’s memory and power are so limited, a small patch can be a challenge. Add to that the constant bombardment of radiation in space, which can corrupt the memory and data. These conditions mean updates must be handled with extreme care. The tight energy supply, the communication delays to send new code across long distances and the lack of real-time troubleshooting options all amplify the risk. An update could turn a functioning satellite into useless debris, leaving no room for second chances. Moreover, satellites are completely out of reach, making planning and testing essential from the start.
Spoofing and Jamming: Manipulating signals, forging data, or broadcasting noise that overwhelms legitimate communications can disrupt services.
Hardware Compromise: A chip or circuit backdoored at manufacturing will most certainly lead to compromise.
Ransomware and Denial-of-Service Attacks: Imagine a ransomware attack on a key weather forecasting satellite. No storm predictions until a ransom is paid.
Physical Attacks and Sabotage: Ground stations can be physically attacked, e.g. from a fire. Uplinks and downlinks can be jammed.
Space Debris and Kessler Syndrome: When satellites are deliberately broken apart, they create fields of debris that can collide with other spacecraft. This chain reaction of collisions, called Kessler Syndrome, can make Earth's orbit so filled with debris that it becomes unusable. An adversary could intentionally trigger this scenario, effectively turning space into a dangerous, inaccessible area for everyone.

Constraints and Complications

But protecting these satellites is not as simple as applying a security patch. Each satellite is constrained by strict technical and economic limits:

Technical Constraints:
- Size and Mass: Every kilogram launched into space costs a few thousands dollars, so hardware security modules aren’t always viable.
- Power: Satellites have limited energy. Defensive countermeasures that require continuous processing and encryption must be carefully balanced against operational capabilities.
- Orbital and Thermal Considerations: Satellites operate in extremes. Hardware and security solutions must withstand radiation, vacuum, and thermal swings.
- Patching Challenges: Even after identifying a security flaw, pushing and installing an update is no trivial task - especially because memory capacity is very limited.
Economic Constraints:
- Cost and Return on Investment: Cybersecurity measures must yield enough benefit to justify their expense in a highly competitive and increasingly democratized space economy.
Security vs. Democratization of Space:
As space becomes more accessible, with startups and universities launching their own microsatellites, we embrace innovation and democratization. But more players mean more targets and more complexity.

How do we move towards a safer orbital future?

International Collaboration and Standards:
We need new laws and frameworks. Just as treaties govern the peaceful use of space, we must develop cybersecurity guidelines that apply across borders. No one nation can solve this alone. International cooperation on vulnerability disclosure, satellite security standards, and cyber defense exercises will be key.
Built-In Cyber Resilience:
Start at the design phase. Plan satellites with defense in depth. Encryption at every stage, hardened communication links, tamper-resistant hardware.
Regular Testing and Red-Teaming:
Just as we test firewalls and networks, we need to red-team satellites more. Ethical hackers should be encouraged. If they can find the weaknesses first, we can fix them before bad actors exploit weaknesses.
Supply Chain Transparency and Security:
Vet every component, every supplier.
Risk Management and Contingency Planning:
Develop robust recovery plans. Redundancy and resilience must be considered.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Governments, private industry, academia and civil society must come together and forge a new era, where cybersecurity in space is foundational.

You can find my talk on the topic here