Geostationary Satellite Reveals Unencrypted Data, Including Phone Calls And Military Communications

Geostationary satellite illustration (photo: x @Chris_Kurdyla)

JAKARTA - Security researchers found that up to half of all geostationary satellites in Earth's orbit carry sensitive consumer, corporate, and military information that is not encrypted, making the data vulnerable to being widely tapped.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) and the University of Maryland spent 800 US dollars to buy satellite recipients ready to use and direct them to the sky for three years.

They found large amounts of unencrypted data sent and received from space, including personal voice calls and people's text messages, as well as consumer internet traffic from Wi-Fi services on board.

The unencrypted data also includes communications between critical infrastructure systems, such as energy and water suppliers, as well as offshore oil and gas platforms, according to a Wired report that first published the researchers' findings.

Over the past year, researchers have warned organizations affected by this exposure, including the T-Mobile and AT&T networks in Mexico, which will soon begin to encrypt their data afterwards to prevent future eavesdropping.

However, the researchers warned that not all parties had fixed the exposed data, including some critical infrastructure providers, and that large amounts of satellite data would remain exposed over the next few years.