Black Hat USA Debuts Cyber-Physical Systems Briefings Track

From self-driving vehicles to drones and from industrial control systems to avionics, the new Cyber-Physical Systems track at the virtual Black Hat USA this August will demonstrate how to defend systems where one or more computers monitor, manage, and control a physical process. Attendees can take away threat model strategies focusing on physical processes, as well as gain insights into both vulnerabilities and how defense mechanisms need to encompass both the physical and digital sides of cyber-physical systems.

Whispers Among the Stars: A Practical Look at Perpetrating (and Preventing) Satellite Eavesdropping Attacks is one of the Black Hat USA Cyber-Physical Systems Briefings. As the number of satellites in orbit accelerates, this Briefing will take an experimental look at attacking satellite broadband communications across three domains: land, air, and sea.

Attendees will learn how an attacker using $300 of home television equipment can spy on these communications from thousands of miles away, with almost no risk of detection. They'll also walk through the hardware used and software developed to evaluate this threat against real-world systems using two communications protocols: DVB-S MPE and DVBS-2 GSE.

For a more terrestrial perspective on cyber-physical systems, check out Hacking the Supply Chain: Vulnerabilities Haunt Tens of Millions of Critical Devices. Researchers will show how they found and exploited a series of critical vulnerabilities affecting Internet of Things (IoT) devices in nearly every sector imaginable, from power grids to the medical, networking, transportation, retail, and defense industries.

These vulnerabilities were found in a library located at the beginning of a complex supply chain and have lurked undetected for at least 10 years, likely much longer. At Black Hat USA, you'll learn the technical details as well as how the vulnerabilities became so widespread and why some vendors are more affected than others.

Register now for this year's fully virtual Black Hat USA, still scheduled to take place August 1–6, and get more information about the event on the Black Hat website.