
US Air Force Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-a-Sat - Thorondor
https://www.hackasat.com/
======
sandworm101
>>Participants who successfully complete a set of qualification challenges on
cybersecurity and space this spring will be invited to the ultimate challenge:
to (ethically) hack a satellite.

Lol. That is so military public affairs. You are _allowed_ to hack a satellite
_after_ being vetted and approved by government. Are Canadians allowed to
participate? How about Russians? What about crypto-anarchists who will never
pass a military-type background check? I cannot think of a less hacker-
friendly competition.

How about this: Just launch the damn satellite. Tell us which rocket it is on
(I assume it is a ride share) and give 100k to the first team that manages to
broadcast a rickroll.

Bonus round: An extra 100k for any team that leverages the sat to listen in to
the spysat network, the one operating on 60 GHz so that it cannot be heard
from the ground directly. (Fyi, if you want to meet some men in black, try
putting some 60GHz capability on your cubesat. They no like anything that
might jam that spectrum.)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Data_System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Data_System)

~~~
walterbell
_> the one operating on 60 GHz so that it cannot be heard from the ground
directly_

Isn't that the same frequency for ground-based 5G mmWave?

~~~
sandworm101
Yes. It is absorbed by moisture in the atmosphere. That limits its range,
which is great if you want to setup lots of cellular towers without them
interfering with each other. If 5g used a frequency that wasn't absorbed,
individual towers would have to be much further apart, increasing "cell" size
and limiting available bandwidth.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_high_frequency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_high_frequency)

~~~
teh_infallible
I read a paper about that. It said that 98% of the energy emitted at that
frequency is absorbed by oxygen, and this was touted as a benefit, because it
effectively “insulated” the towers, so they would not interfere with each
other. But I am still surprised that any engineer would design a system that
is only 2 percent efficient.

~~~
loeg
At scale all radio is absorbed by something... mostly not your recipient's
antenna.

~~~
aardvark291
or continues propagating into the endless depths of space

~~~
loeg
Sure. Unlikely for 5G towers given frequencies and location.

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saul_goodman
"The FlatSat CTF Event occurs with FlatSat hardware and a virtual/simulated
space environment."

For the uninitiated: when an operator builds a satellite they usually build at
least 3 or 4 of the same bird for every one they launch. This includes the
initial "FlatSat" which is a fully working prototype but built onto a flat
proto-board rather than the launched form factor, this makes troubleshooting
easier in the initial stages. Later on these development prototypes can also
be used to troubleshoot problems that occur in space.

So somewhere there is an Air Force warehouse packed to the gills with all the
development and flat-sats that were never intended to fly. Although obviously
they would never use real hardware on an event like this for a number of
reasons, if they did it would only be for old hardware that's been retired.
But still an interesting idea.

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someuser54541
My work focuses primarily on consumer application development, however
cybersecurity and CTF challenges like this have always been an interest.

What specific technical skills are required to successfully complete
challenges like this?

~~~
jrwr
Have you ever had to debug a "blackbox" before, Application code or hardware
that you had really nothing to do with and had to figure out how in the hell
it works? or worked with embedded devices or embedded radios? Would love to
help you out likewise anyway, hit me on up twitter @JRWR

~~~
someuser54541
> Have you ever had to debug a "blackbox" before, Application code or hardware
> that you had really nothing to do with and had to figure out how in the hell
> it works?

I suppose so, yes, but probably not to the extent required in some of these
challenges.

I just read through [https://cybersecurity.att.com/blogs/security-
essentials/capt...](https://cybersecurity.att.com/blogs/security-
essentials/capture-the-flag-ctf-what-is-it-for-a-newbie) and some of the
accompanying write ups[0] on Github which was very insightful.

[0]: [https://github.com/1337pwnie/ctf-
writeups/tree/master/2017/U...](https://github.com/1337pwnie/ctf-
writeups/tree/master/2017/UIUCTF)

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d_silin
Would be interested in any US citizen to join our team.

We have the skills, but we are all either Canadian or British, sadly. Email me
at contact@exodusorbitals.com

P.S. Any cybersecurity experience is an asset, but not a requirement.

~~~
hongseleco
something something 5 eyes?

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leoh
I'll bet that foreign intelligence people that actually know how to hack
satellites are looking at each other and laughing.

~~~
fakedang
I bet that American intelligence officials looking to snag naive foreign cyber
operatives are looking at each other and laughing too.

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viksit
Is there a pointer on where to read more about challenges like this -
technical information on how space com systems work, and what some example
CTFs are?

~~~
readme
here's the guide on how to play in a CTF

[https://trailofbits.github.io/ctf/intro/find.html](https://trailofbits.github.io/ctf/intro/find.html)

for space comms, search "site:nasa.gov satellite"

~~~
viksit
Thanks, but I was referring to space comms ctfs specifically :) it’s one thing
to find a buffer overflow exploit on http but I don’t even know what the
carrier protocol for a ku band transponder is called..

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IMAYousaf
Hello. My CS experience is quite elementary, and I'm a decent enough Web Dev
and Scientific Programmer. If I wanted to be the type of hacker capable of
taking down a Satellite, what would be everything that I would need to learn?
I assume that this is super complex (Duh) but am curious as to the actual
extent of knowledge required to pull this off.

~~~
readme
getting an SDR and learning about RF would be a good start

~~~
IMAYousaf
Appreciate the response. Any good readings on that? And where do I go from
there?

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rkagerer
Is the target an _actual_ satellite in space, or is it on the ground /
simulated?

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4gotunameagain
>..the ultimate challenge: to (ethically) hack a satellite.

I guess "legally" would be the right word here. Ethics are subjective. But who
are we kidding, they know exactly why they chose this word.

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jb775
$14 billion 2020 budget for the USAF space portfolio[1], $50 thousand prize
(split between entire team) to reveal detailed procedure to hack the USAF
space portfolio. I feel like they should be a bit more generous here.

[1] [https://www.af.mil/News/Article-
Display/Article/1783601/air-...](https://www.af.mil/News/Article-
Display/Article/1783601/air-forces-fiscal-2020-budget-focuses-on-
modernization-readiness-confronting-gl/)

~~~
HenryKissinger
"Won the Air Force Space Security Challenge" on your resume is basically a
license to k̶i̶l̶l̶ name your own salary with any reputable tech company.

~~~
amiga
The winners are certainly a potential threat to national (global?) security.
What's the price of a celebrity status like that?

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ackbar03
You could ask how the other ctf defcon winners are regarded? The top teams are
all pretty hardcore, I always felt they'd be treated specially as well but
seems not to be the case

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psifertex
Won three times, definitely didn't hurt my career.

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devchix
Bruce Schneier already posit that hack-a-thing challenge is not a good test or
proof of whether a thing is vulnerable. Back in the days when everyone was
coming out with hash and cipher algo there were bounties offered as PR of how
strong thingX was. Not everyone is going to take up a challenge, if I were a
real criminal I would discover the vulnerability (if any) and keep it to
myself because the exploit, especially a secret one, is worth more than the
bounty, and has a longer pay period.

~~~
exabrial
Agree 100%, if someone was to seriously think and ad-hoc team was a
replacement for a formal security audit... well they get what they deserve.
I'm not sure where these fall in the mix, but they definitely seem useful,
more eyes on a problem the better.

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coretx
Why on Earth would you help them militairise outerspace and draw a crosshair
on your forehead while being at it ? As if current spacejunk isn't enough of a
threat to humanities future in space already. This sounds all awesome at
first, but think about it for a second.

~~~
Gustomaximus
Any satellite is likely going up regardless.

It may make it safer if you help stop bad actors getting access to what will
be there anyway. Some terrorist would probably love to steer one satellite
into another... or whatever options control gives.

~~~
coretx
Armies are organizations build around aggression per definition and therefore
_are_ the terrorist in outerspace. The good guys in space are found at civil
presence such as the ISS. People from all nations and cultures working
together in peace. A symbol of hope for humanity. Much unlike military
organizations with boots on the ground.

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jauer
Bold to expect Defcon to happen this year.

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sneak
The Air Force didn’t hear the news: DEFCON is cancelled.

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readhn
Is it just me or is $50K is really low price to pay, almost like a slap in the
face, for a satellite level vulnerability? If i remember correctly military
satellites often carry civilian comm services: important business
communications/financial networks etc.

What would be the black market price for something like this? It has to be at
least 10x more at $500K as a low end. Realistically a million $+

~~~
gccxsse
It looks like a ctf not a bugbounty.

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heyflyguy
I hope there is a def con this year

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benbojangles
What SDR uses +6ghz? I heard HackRF only goes to 6ghz but not over?

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ralston3
Anyone want to participate in this? Please contact

