On October 27th, 2011, Tony Capaccio and Jeff Bliss reported for Bloomberg Businessweek on how hackers, possibly from the Chinese military, interfered with two US government satellites four times in 2007 and 2008. This information comes from excerpts of the upcoming US-China Economic and Security Review Commission which is to be released next month. The report notes that “Such interference poses numerous potential threats, particularly if achieved against satellites with more sensitive functions. Access to a satellite‘s controls could allow an attacker to damage or destroy the satellite. An attacker could also deny or degrade as well as forge or otherwise manipulate the satellite’s transmission.” The report goes on to say that an earth observation satellite system experienced 12 or more minutes of interference in October 2007 and July 2008, but doesn't elaborate on the nature of the hacker's interference.
Although the report doesn't accuse the Chinese of conducting the attacks, some have hypothesized that it was indeed China because the attacks are consistent with Chinese military writings that advocate disabling enemy satellites. The 2009 version of the commission report found that “individuals participating in ongoing penetrations of U.S. networks have Chinese language skills and have well established ties with the Chinese underground hacker community." Chinese officials denied any role and managed to say that China “never does anything that endangers other countries’ security interests” with a straight face.
The source article can be found here.
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