NASA helped find a network security hole in spacecraft networks

NASA and University of Michigan researchers have found a security flaw that could pose a threat to spacecraft in the right (or rather, wrong) conditions. The team has discovered that time-triggered Ethernet (TTE), a feature that lets critical systems sit alongside minor ones on the same networking hardware, is vulnerable to a spoofing attack. An intruder can send fake sync messages by conducting electromagnetic interference through copper Ethernet cables into network switches, creating a "gap" in a switch's activity that lets bogus data slide through. Over time, the TTE device will lose sync and behave erratically.