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Web browser control brings hijacking threats to spacecraft
From: William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 00:59:15 -0500
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news_224641.html New Scientist magazine, 08 July 2000 IN A WEEK when NASA revealed that a computer hacker interrupted communications on a space shuttle mission in 1997, a new space research project has been launched which could give hackers the ultimate kick: control of a spacecraft. Surrey Satellite Technology, a space science company based in Guildford, has been commissioned by NASA to investigate how satellites can be controlled using cheap Internet technology. SST's SNAP-1 experimental satellite, launched last week from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, may be the first satellite to test Internet control technology, says Chris Jackson, SST's ground station manager. But the idea of Web browsers being used to control spacecraft raises the spectre of hackers taking the controls. This week, NASA official Roberta Gross told BBC TV's Panorama programme that a malicious computer user struck as the shuttle docked with Mir in 1997. The hacker so overloaded NASA computers that transmission of data on astronauts' vital signs was "delayed". Fail-safes cut in and NASA says no harm was done. Most satellites communicate with Earth using expensive software that is custom-written for each mission. But using Internet protocols--in which data is sent and received in packets that are recognised by most computers--could make space-flight control much cheaper, Jackson says. The technology could also allow satellite operators to access spacecraft at any time, from any PC, anywhere. But opening up satellites to the Internet will make hacking into the system a real concern. NASA says that it has had 500,000 hacking attempts on its computers in the past year alone--but Jackson says the SST study will be addressing the security issues. *-------------------------------------------------* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC --------------------------------------------------- C4I Secure Solutions http://www.c4i.org *-------------------------------------------------* ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
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- Web browser control brings hijacking threats to spacecraft William Knowles (Jul 11)