Viasat Red Team Wins Hacking CTF Contest at DEFCON 33

We are thrilled to share that Viasat’s Red Team was the winner of the Day 1 session of the Aerospace Village Satellite Hacking CTF (capture the flag) during DEFCON 33!

 

Organized by The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), this Hacking CTF competition was designed to test teams’ capabilities and understanding of how attackers can break into space systems, to better inform how to respond and secure a complex set of ground and space system components while accomplishing specific challenges. 
 

To summarize, the Viasat team was given access to a simulation of previously unseen ground station and satellite systems along with a set of objectives. The team then leveraged both commercial satellite C2, test & integration software (OpenC3 COSMOS) and government (NASA core Flight System-cFS) software tools to analyze, enumerate, and control those systems and complete those specified objectives within a limited amount of time.

 

Viasat’s team used its expertise and experience using these types of software tools for security testing and security outreach programs. The team also applied its own identification techniques and experience with cryptography, exploitation, enumeration, and pivoting to enable them to effectively hunt and find flags.

 

Phil Mar, Chief Technology Officer of Engineering for Viasat Government, praised the hard work of team: “This is a fantastic accomplishment for our Red Team and a tribute to their focus and commitment to evolving with a rapidly changing and complex space security environment. This also demonstrates Viasat’s broader technical expertise, leadership and understanding of space networking and emerging security challenges.”

 

Every day, Viasat’s Red Team focuses on risk assessments, penetration testing, red and purple team operations, and security outreach for Viasat hardware and software products, embedded hardware, and satellite telecommunications architecture.  This team has made a significant, measurable impact on risk mitigation and maturing the security of products and services across Viasat’s commercial businesses and for government through the company’s Defense and Advance Technologies segment. 

 

Jonathan Wyatt, who leads Viasat’s Red Team, added: “I’m excited and proud of the critical work our team is doing. Viasat has a wealth of experience and understanding of the deep, complex technologies involved with these systems, and I think our team’s skills, learnings and capabilities have substantially grown over the past few years as cybersecurity threats have evolved – which is what is required today.”

 

Congratulations to Viasat’s Red Team members that participated in the competition – Tim McLean, Andrew Romans, Jonathon Hosbrook, and Abbie Josephsen - as well as to our broader security team members for their commitment to protecting our networks and customers!

 

Learn more about Viasat’s holistic security solutions and services.