According to US intelligence services, China is developing powerful cyberweapons that may “seize control” of satellites owned by adversarial Western countries, rendering them useless for sustaining communications, weaponry, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems.
According to the Financial Times, 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Douglas Teixeira allegedly shared several top-secret documents on a Minecraft Discord group, one of which was a CIA-marked document on China’s plans to create cyberweapons that can deny, exploit, or hijack adversary satellites. They ultimately found themselves on Telegram, 4chan, and Twitter.
Washington claims that China’s efforts to commandeer Western satellites are part of its effort to control information, which Beijing views as a crucial “domain for fighting wars.”
One of China’s strikes is to imitate the signals that satellites’ operators send out, fooling them into failing or being completely taken over at vital points in a battle.
It would disable satellites’ capacity to interact with one another, convey signals and commands to weapons, and transmit back visual and intercepted data. Satellites often function in clusters.
Washington is currently dealing with a “new era” of dangers from beyond the Earth, according to General B Chance Saltzman, commander of the US Space Force.
Satellites Deployed by China to Compete with US
In order to compete with US forces in the case of a future confrontation, he claims that China has deployed 347 satellites, including 35 that have been launched in the previous six months.
“The threats that we face to our on-orbit capabilities from our strategic competitors [have] grown substantially,” Saltzman told CNBC “the congestion we’re seeing in space with tracked objects and the number of satellite payloads, and just the launches themselves, have grown at an exponential rate.”
“China continues to aggressively invest in technology meant to disrupt, degrade and destroy our space capabilities,” Saltzman said.
The relevance of satellite communications in warfare is easily understood by considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On February 24, the day of the invasion, Russia conducted a cyberattack against US telecommunications company Viasat.
Satellite modems that provide internet connectivity to thousands of European users, including many in Ukraine, were forced offline as a result of the event.
China has found the SpaceX Starlink satellites to be particularly inconvenient. Chinese military researchers warned the government to explore strategies for destroying or incapacitating Starlink back in May because to their concerns about the possible threat they posed.
According to allegations from February, the nation intended to put 13,000 satellites into orbit as part of a competing service that would offer worldwide internet access, “suppress” Elon Musk’s network, and conduct anti-Starlink missions.
To read our blog on “China as a tech giant is a concern, UK cyber security chief,” click here.
