Pavur discovered he was able to intercept traffic using a $90 satellite dish and a $200 digital video broadcasting satellite tuner – both available second hand online.Īll it took was being able to identify where a geo-orbital satellite was orbiting – information which is available online – and pointing the satellite dish in direction towards it, as well as setting some freely available signal-recording software to record data that's being transmitted. 'ISPs alter your traffic to optimise it and make it go faster over satellite – they can listen to your traffic and then strategically change it to make your experience better'.

'Geostationary orbit is so far away that it takes a long time to send signals up there, so you end up with really high latency,' Pavur told ZDNet. One of the reasons this is possible is because when data is being transferred across satellite broadband communications by ISPs, it isn't encrypted because that's the fastest way to transmit the data over vast distances. Organisations transmitting information via satellite broadband connections – something that's useful in areas where fixed internet connections might be slow or non-existent – could get their traffic sniffed, potentially putting usernames and passwords into the hands of attackers, as well as the ability to track sensitive information about individuals or corporations. PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science James Pavur revealed his research at the Black Hat USA virtual conference after previously disclosing his findings to the affected parties in order to help them improve security. SEE: A winning strategy for cybersecurity (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic)

Cyber security 101: Protect your privacy from hackers, spies, and the governmentĪ cybersecurity researcher at Oxford University has demonstrated how they were able to do this and intercept real traffic from targets ranging from ships to law firms to Internet of Things providers across half the globe – all from a fixed point in the UK.

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