The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka have been hacking the Intelsat that hangs over the Indian Ocean to transmit propaganda. Intelsat is trying very hard to figure out how they did it, and then keep them from doing it again.
Adding to the idea that no system is safe, Intelsat is on the hook today to protect its in orbit systems from being hacked to transmit propaganda. In the world of cyber warfare, the ability of the Tamil Tigers to hack Intelsat is something that people who plan for or otherwise work in long range global telecommunications needs to be thinking about. Intelsat issued a tersely worded statement today about the ongoing problem:
“Intelsat does not tolerate terrorists operating illegally on it satellites. Since we first learned of the LTTE’s signal piracy, we have been actively pursuing a number of technical alternatives to halt the transmissions. We are clear in our resolve to ending this terrorist organisation’s unauthorised use of our satellite,” Intelsat, the world’s largest provider of fixed satellite services, said in a statement. Source: Daily News
This is not the first time that this kind of thing has happened either, the falungong in 2002 hacked AsiaSat to broadcast their propaganda as well. Taking the TV airwaves from the Chinese government so that they could spread their word using the TV signal from the system.
IToolbox Blogs / Dan Morril : Hack a Satellite while it is in orbit