Title: Vulnerability of Small Satellite Terminals (VSATs) to Cyber Attacks
Published on: January 10, 2014
Military units relying on very small aperture terminals (VSATs) for satellite communications in remote areas face significant cyber attack risks. IntelCrawler, a cyber intelligence firm, has identified nearly 3 million VSATs, with a substantial number located in the United States. Alarmingly, around 10,000 of these systems are easily accessible due to configuration vulnerabilities. “Since 2010, we have scanned the entire IPv4 address space and continually update our Big Data intelligence database, which includes information about the satellite operators’ networks, such as INMARSAT, Asia Broadcast Satellite, and others, highlighting various vulnerabilities,” the researchers explained. The study indicates that VSATs, which support data transmission rates from 4 kbps to 16 Mbps for narrow and broadband applications, are particularly susceptible to cyber threats. These terminals are frequently employed for transmitting narrowband data like credit card transactions, polling, or RFID data, as well as broadband data for VoIP communications.