The U.S. Space Force and Air Force have concluded a capture-the-flag hacking competition aimed at improving the cybersecurity defenses of the U.S. military’s satellite system.
Five cybersecurity research teams competed in the final round of the fourth annual Hack-A-Sat competition that allowed ethical hackers to break into and access information from Moonlighter, a 3U CubeSat built by the Aerospace Corporation and Space Systems Command for cyber exercises, SSC said Monday.
The competition featured two ground-based challenges and seven on-orbit challenges where the teams showcased their skills in spacecraft operations, radio frequency communications and reverse engineering.
Italian team mHACKeroni bagged the $50,000 first-place prize, Polish cyber research group Poland Can Into Space received the second-place prize of $30,000 and U.S.-U.K. team jmp fs:[rcx] got $20,000 for third place.
More than 700 teams competed in the virtual Hack-A-Sat 4 qualification round held in April.
