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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

I'd imagine you need a particular encryption key to do it.

I'd bet, though, that many things aren't very well protected, because people designing space systems assume that nobody is going to try to mess with them, and also because they probably use proprietary communication protocols.

But just imagine how cool it would be to ssh into a satellite :)

It would be cool, but the latency would drive me crazy.

Just like the people that design SCADA systems in fact

A few years ago I worked for a satellite imagery company. I can tell you that communications with space vehicles in orbit are heavily encrypted using very strong and very proprietary algorithms that require special hardware. Because of this encryption, I had to acquire a government security clearance.

"very proprietary" does not usually imply "very strong".

It does when "very proprietary hardware" is code for "supplied by the NSA."

Actually no, these things pretty much fly in the open, chiefly out of necessity (recovering from bit transmission errors is much more complicated when encrypted, and uses up valuable power as well). Usually you have to know a prefix code to get the probe to listen, a la Dr. Strangelove.

It really is security-through-obscurity. Though that definitely isn't considered safe, a lot of spacecraft (especially deep-space ones) are pretty damn obscure. The true weakest link is the security at the ground station, not some fool with a 40 meter dish.

Older satellites might have crummy encryption like DES and might be hackable... (not a security guy, so talking out of my ass)

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