• The exploit was demonstrated by hacker collective Shadytel at the Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas;

• The group used a R$1,500 piece of equipment called Hack RF to connect to the Canadian satellite;

• Classic pirate movies like WarGames were released.

One satellite disabled was invaded by the Pirates, who used the device to stream movies. The exploit was demonstrated by hacking collective Shadytel at the Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas this weekend. The group used a R$1,500 piece of equipment called Hack RF to connect to Canada’s Anik F1R satellite, which was operated by Telesat Canada before it went offline.

Having access to an abandoned uplink facility, the hackers decided to “game” with the satellite, which is currently in geostationary orbit some 35,786 km (22,236 miles) above Earth.

“Satellites basically reflect any signal that is sent to them,” Shadytel member Karl Koscher explained during a presentation at Def Con, reported by Motherboard.

“If you’re high enough, and there’s another user on that transponder, you’ll have to yell louder than them, but if there’s no one there, [o satélite] it will just repeat itself.

The group used the Anik F1R to stream classic pirate movies like WarGames, as well as to establish a conference call link. The satellite was disabled in 2020 and was programmed to enter a so-called “graveyard orbit” before being hijacked.

A separate Starlink satellite hack was featured at the hacking conference, with a Belgian security researcher able to access SpaceX’s space internet network using a homemade circuit board.

No damage was done to the Starlink network or the decommissioned satellite, although malicious satellite hacks can be devastating.

Earlier this year, Russian hackers attacked US satellite company Viasat with destructive malware that erased all data from the system. Hours later, Russian troops invaded Ukraine amid a partial communications blackout, with the Ukrainian military relying on Viasat services to control its armed forces.