Hackers will compete to take over a satellite in space

Newsweek reports that the US Army has staged a Hack-A-Sat 4 competition during the annual Defcon hacker trade show in August. The goal of the contestants is to capture a satellite in orbit around the Earth.

Eight privateer teams from the United States, Australia, Italy, Poland and Germany advanced from the qualifiers in April with more than 380 teams registered and, if all goes according to plan, will decide to compete in Las Vegas during the Defcon trade show. Participants are called “white hat” hackers who deal with ethical hacking, they attack systems on behalf of their owners to identify various security flaws.

The competition is organized by the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Previous times the competition has been arranged, the goal has been a satellite that has to stay here on Earth, but if all goes as planned, this year the contestants will go on a satellite in orbit.

The satellite targeted by hackers is called Moonlighter, and it is specially designed to be attacked by hackers. The Satellite is about the size of a toaster and has many different safety features. Among other things, it was not equipped with its own engines. Controllers must also be able to restart the satellite system and flush out any intruders if needed.