Thales successfully hacked into an ESA satellite as part of an exercise

Thales has just demonstrated that cyber warfare can take place in space. The French electronics group has managed to gain control of a real satellite from the European Space Agency (ESA), within the framework of an exercise organized by CYSAT, the European meeting on cybersecurity in the space industry, which opens this Wednesday in Paris.

An ethical exercise in satellite hacking

ESA had organized a remote control simulation of its nanosatellites (devices that weigh less than 10 kilos). And the challenge was won by Thales’ “offensive cybersecurity” team, which identified flaws that could disrupt the operation of the satellite, intended for this type of test. “This ethical satellite hacking exercise, a world first, will strengthen the security of the satellite and associated applications,” according to Thales.

The participants implemented different techniques to target geolocation systems, attitude management (orientation of an object in space), and cameras. The Thales team was able to access the onboard system and place malicious code there without being detected. Thus they were able to modify the images captured by the satellite and be retransmitted to Earth. They were also able to mask certain geographic areas in the shots.

“These manipulations demonstrate the huge impacts that a real cyberattack can have on the civilian world,” due to the growing number of military and civilian applications that rely on satellite systems, Thales says.

Preventive simulations for a more global cyber risk

The group, which has more than 3,500 cybersecurity experts, is involved in the security of satellite programs in France, in Europe -particularly for the European satellite navigation program Galileo-, as well as internationally.

According to the Financial Times, citing CIA documents from Tuesday, China is developing techniques to seize control and disable enemy satellites by mimicking their transmission signal to Earth.

At the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian cyber attackers also disrupted a telecommunications satellite used by the Ukrainian military. Proof that satellites are also the object of this cyberwar that several nations oppose.