5 ms·
Locking down user terminals is one part of starlink security. Breaking that is a huge accomplishment. It appears that the other layers still prevent this from b
by russdill 4y ago
Locking down user terminals is one part of starlink security. Breaking that is a huge accomplishment. It appears that the other layers still prevent this from being a full blown attack, but that may just be a matter of time.
- bpodgursky 4y agoWhat makes you think this is true? I'm not shocked they did lock it down, but why do you think it's important to the security?
- russdill 4y agoThey are using a layered model. Giving an attacker access to communicate directly with your satellites and send specially crafted packets is giving them a really useful tool.
- pelorat 4y agoSure, but an attack to do what? Even with full hardware access there's nothing that can be done with the network itself, nor can it be used to snoop on other users, nor does it give some access to the satellites themselves. It's akin to rooting your ISP provided modem.
- TechBro8615 4y agoIf you root your ISP provided modem, aren’t you one step closer to exploiting some bug in DOCSIS? Similarly here wouldn’t you be one step closer to exploiting the “network itself?” (Air-quotes because I’m not actually sure what that means in this context.)
- bpodgursky 4y agoIf you root your Android, are you one step closer to hacking the 5G network?
- InitialLastName 4y agoYes, for some definition of the word hacking, because one of the underlying assumptions of the 5G network is that all of the devices operating on it are subject to local regulatory rules (won't behave badly on that spectral region) and rooting your Android phone could potentially give you access to do unacceptable things with the radio, up to and including interfering with other devices using the network.
- bpodgursky 4y agoI guess my point is that this is trivially easy to do but 5G networks in practice have no problem chugging along supporting a bunch of user-controlled devices.
- InitialLastName 4y agoPractically speaking, roughly 100% of those devices are fully regulator-approved and compliant with standards, because roughly 100% are running firmware from vendors who rely on regulatory approval. Essentially 0% of those devices are user-controlled in the "I can make the radio do whatever I want" sense.
- TechBro8615 4y agoI suppose that depends how you define “chugging along.” They might be relatively stable and safe from DDOS, but malicious devices can certainly do damage to other users of a network, in some cases without even connecting to it. For example, an IMSI catcher isn’t technically _connected to_ any cell network, but it does exploit the assumptions of clients who attempt and expect to connect to one.
- russdill 4y agoIf you root the baseband processor, yes.