Security researchers have discovered that more than half of all geostationary satellites in Earth orbit are carrying unencrypted sensitive consumer, corporate and military information, leaving this data wide open to spying.
Researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Maryland spent $800 on an off-the-shelf satellite receiver and pointed it skyward for three years. They found reams of unencrypted data coming and going from space, including people’s private voice calls and text messages and consumer Internet traffic from in-flight Wi-Fi services.
Unencrypted data also includes communications between critical infrastructure systems, such as energy and water suppliers, and off-shore oil and gas platforms. wiredwho first published Researchers’ findings,
Researchers spent the last year alerting affected organizations about the exposure, including T-Mobile and AT&T’s network in Mexico, which soon began encrypting their data to prevent future spying.
But researchers warn that not all, including some critical infrastructure providers, have addressed their own exposed data, and vast amounts of satellite data will be exposed in the coming years.
