Cybersecurity researchers have intercepted vast quantities of private voice calls and text messages, including potentially sensitive communications of government and military officials, transmitted over completely unprotected satellite communication links.

When the researchers decided to put satellite communications under scrutiny, they thought they would find some flaws. What they discovered was much worse than their wildest dreams. Using a commercial off-the-shelf satellite dish mounted on the roof of a university campus in San Diego, they scanned internet traffic routed via 39 geostationary satellites visible from southern California.

They soon realized that sensitive messages including those involving critical infrastructure and internal corporate and government communications were b

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