The Starlink service of Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, has been hacked by a Belgian researcher. Bluffed, Musk gave him 12,000 euros in reward.
Lennert Woutersa security researcher at KU Leuven, bluffed Elon Musk by hacking the service Starlink (which allows users to access the Internet through satellites) of SpaceX. To do this, a budget of 25 dollars was necessary in order to purchase isopropanol solvent, tools for leverage et a heat gun. Lennert also needed something that can’t be bought: patience.
“The goal was to understand how Starlink worked.” Wouters told the Standard. What Elon Musk’s company responded to in a statement, according to The Free Belgium : “We find the attack technically impressive […] We supply Starlink systems worldwide. It is difficult, if not impossible, to make the devices completely waterproof.”
The Belgian researcher received 12.000 euros of reward and gave an idea to the company. Indeed, to prevent system failures, SpaceX has announced that she would hire hackers for whom the rewards could go up to 25.000 dollars. The amount will vary depending on the discovery.