In a presentation by security researcher Lennert Wouters, this low-cost circuit board has the potential to disrupt the operations of Starlink or even disable parts of its system.
With over 3,000 small satellites in Earth’s orbit, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has established a global satellite network capable of providing satellite internet to 36 countries. However, with a device costing only $25, a Belgian security researcher can hack into the Starlink satellite dish through a serious vulnerability he discovered.
At the Black Hat security conference last week in Las Vegas, researcher Lennert Wouters demonstrated how he could hack into Starlink’s internet system using a custom low-cost circuit board made from readily available parts.
Starlink internet signal dish.
However, he still needed physical access to the Starlink satellite dish to attach this custom circuit board. Once connected to the satellite dish, this circuit board could access its software, bypassing Starlink’s security layer and allowing Wouters to control its functions. In a test attack, Wouters was able to disrupt the signal as well as lock certain parts of the Starlink system.
“Suppose you are an attacker and want to target the satellite itself,” Wouters told Wired. “You might have to build your own system to communicate with the satellite, but that’s very difficult. So, if you want to attack that satellite, it would be much easier to go through the user-provided satellite dish.”
Circuit board with custom chip to hack the Starlink system.
Starlink’s system is divided into three main components: satellites, a gateway for sending internet connections, and the user signal dish – affectionately referred to by Musk’s team as “Dishy McFlatface” or the food bowl. Wouters’ research on the Starlink vulnerability focused on these signal dishes.
Last year, Wouters disclosed this vulnerability to SpaceX through the company’s bug bounty program. Shortly after, Starlink released documentation explaining how they secured the system along with a firmware update that “makes this attack more difficult, but still possible.” Therefore, Wouters believes the surest way to prevent this attack is to create a new chip version for the Starlink satellite dish.
Currently, Wouters has published details about his custom circuit board as well as the code for the attack on GitHub for others to access.
