Similar to other Industrial Control System (ICS) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices and systems, small satellite dishes called VSAT’s (very small aperture terminals) are also exposed to compromise.  These systems are often used in critical infrastructure, by banks, news media, and also widely used in the maritime shipping industry. Some of the same problems exist with these systems as with other IoT and ICS:

• default password in use
• no password
• unnecessary communications services turned on (eg telnet)

According to this Christian Science Monitor article, cybersecurity group IntelCrawler reports 10,500 of these devices being exposed globally.  Indeed, a quick Shodan search just now for ‘VSAT’ in the banner returns over 1200 devices.

The deployment of VSAT devices continues to rapidly grow with 16% growth demonstrated in 2012  (345,000 terminals sold) and 1.7 million sites in global service in 2012.  2012-2016 market growth is expected to be almost 8% for the maritime market alone.

Clearly, another area in need of buttoning up.

[Image:WikiMedia Commons]