Starlink has created an excellent fleet of small satellites that provide internet access in 36 countries. All it took was a Belgian cyber security researcher, a homemade device, and a dream to reveal the first major security flaw in Starlink's user terminal.
At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, a Belgian security researcher showed how he hacked into the Starlink internet system using a homemade circuit board or mod chip that cost around $25 to build.
Wouters had to remove the satellite dish in order to attach a custom modchip. Starlink's security system was bypassed by a fault injection attack that allowed access to control functions.
"If you wanted to attack the satellite, you could try to build your own system that would allow you to talk to the satellite, but that's quite difficult," Wouters said. If you want to attack the satellites, you might want to use the user terminal.
The three main parts of Starlink's system are the satellites, the gateways and the user terminals. Wouters focused on the dishy McFlatfaces.
The company paid Wouters through its bug bounty program after he exposed the vulnerability. Starlink published a six-page PDF explaining how it secures its systems along with a firmware update that makes the attack harder but not impossible to execute.
During the Russian invasion, Starlink has become a vital tool to keep Ukrainians connected. In May, Musk said that Starlink has been able to prevent cyberattacks from Russia.
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