Starlink Successfully Hacked Using $25 Modchip

In a recent Black Hat conference, Belgian researcher Lennert Wouters revealed how he successfully hacked SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-based internet system using a homemade circuit board that cost around $25 to develop. Wouters physically stripped down a satellite dish and created the custom board, or modchip, that can be attached to the Starlink dish. He was able to obtain root access by glitching the Starlink User Terminal security operations center bootrom, which allowed him to break into locked parts of the system. SpaceX responded to Wouters’ presentation with a six-page paper inviting security researchers to help improve Starlink’s security while highlighting its layered approach to protecting the system.