SpaceX just launched a satellite that was designed to be hacked

The Moonlighter CubeSat is "the world's first and only hacking sandbox in space."
Chris Young
The launch of CRS-28.
The launch of CRS-28.

SpaceX / Twitter 

On Monday, June 5, SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket for the 20th time.

The International Space Station (ISS) re-supply mission, CRS-28 contracted by NASA, also lifted a number of CubeSats into low Earth orbit.

One of those, called Moonlighter, will be used as an experimental "hacking sandbox", a report from Cyberscoop reveals.

The small satellite will be the focus of a competition taking place at the annual Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas later this year, during which teams will compete to infiltrate the orbital system's software.

Moonlighter was designed to improve cybersecurity in space

For the past three years, the U.S. Air Force has hosted its Hack-A-Sat competition at Def Con. Hack-A-Sat is aimed at helping experts improve cybersecurity in space amid growing concern over the vulnerability of orbital systems.

Up to now, the Hack-A-Sat competition has always been a simulation. At this year's DEF CON, teams will finally attempt to infiltrate a real-life satellite — Moonlighter. The Moonlighter project was developed as part of a collaboration involving the Aerospace Corporation, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and U.S. Space Systems Command.

SpaceX just launched a satellite that was designed to be hacked
The Moonlighter satellite.

According to the Aerospace Corporation's website, Moonlighter, which weighs roughly 5 kg, is "the world's first and only hacking sandbox in space."

The satellite will "serve a critical role in exercising defensive cyber operations (DCO); developing cyber tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs); and verifying end-to-end cyber threat assessment and prevention across the space enterprise."

At the end of the Hack-A-Sat competition, the top three teams will be awarded prizes of $50,000, $30,000, and $20,000 respectively.

Space cybersecurity is a growing concern

Cybersecurity has become a growing concern for space operations in recent years as the number of satellites that are providing internet services, or are connected to the internet, continues to rise.

In April, US National Cyber Director Kemba Walden stated that space cybersecurity is "urgent and requires high-level attention," citing the fact that one of Russia's first moves ahead of its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 was to brick Viasat communications satellites.

Last year, meanwhile, a Pentagon official praised SpaceX for the "eyewatering speed" at which its team dealt with a Russian cyberattack that jammed its Starlink satellite system over Ukraine.

SpaceX recently announced that it was developing a new internet satellite service called Starshield for government agencies, amid increasing concern over the cybersecurity of national security interests in space.

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