Security Issues in Hybrid Satellite Networks

Ayan Roy-Chowdhury, Michael Hadjitheodosiou and John S. Baras

Number: CSHCN TR 2004-17, Year: 2004, Advisor: John S. Baras

Abstract

Satellites are expected to play an increasingly important role in providing broadband Internet services over long distances in an efficient manner. Future networks will be hybrid in nature - having terrestrial nodes interconnected by satellite links. Security is an important concern in such networks, since the satellite segment is susceptible to a host of attacks including eavesdropping, session hijacking and data corruption. In this paper we address the issue of securing communication in satellite networks. We describe the different kinds of hybrid network topologies considered for deployment. We discuss various security attacks that are possible in these networks, and survey the different solutions proposed to secure communications in the hybrid networks. We point out important drawbacks in the various proposed solutions, and suggest a hierarchical approach to add security to the hybrid networks.