NASA assisted in the discovery of a security flaw in spacecraft networks

NASA and University of Michigan researchers discovered a security hole that might endanger spacecraft under the right (or incorrect) circumstances. The team uncovered a vulnerability in time-triggered Ethernet (TTE), a feature that allows essential systems to coexist with small ones on the same networking hardware. An attacker may transmit fraudulent sync messages by sending electromagnetic interference via copper Ethernet cables into network switches, causing a “gap” in the activity of the switch and allowing bogus data to get through. The TTE gadget will eventually lose sync and act unpredictably.