One Researcher Used A $25 Device to Hack Elon Musk’s Starlink Network.

“As an attacker let’s say that you wanted to attack satellites themselves,” Wouters explained to WIRED. “You could build your own system to allow you to talk to satellites, but that’s very difficult.” 

You would prefer to use the user terminal if you wish to attack satellites.

Starlink’s system can be divided into three parts. The satellites, gateways that send internet connections, and user terminals are referred to by Musk’s employees as ” McFlatface”. These are the dishes that people can purchase. WIRED reports that Wouters’ research was focused on Dishy McFlatfaces.

SpaceX was notified by Wouters about the vulnerability last year, and the company compensated him through its bug bounty program. Starlink published a six-page PDF explaining how its systems are secured and a firmware update to make the attack more difficult, but not impossible to execute, as a response to Wouters’ presentation.

Starlink has been steadily establishing itself in the industry since 2018 and has played a crucial role in keeping Ukrainians connected during Russia’s invasion. Musk stated that Starlink has stopped all Russian cyberattacks so far.