Syed Khandker (New York University Abu Dhabi), Krzysztof Jurczok (Amateur Radio Operator), Christina Pöpper (New York University Abu Dhabi)

COSPAS-Sarsat is a global satellite-based search and rescue system that provides distress alert and location information to aid in the rescue of people in distress. However, recent studies show that the system lacks proper security mechanisms, making it vulnerable to various cyberattacks, including beacon spoofing, hacking, frequency jamming, and more. This paper proposes a backward-compatible solution to address these longstanding security concerns by incorporating a message authentication code (MAC) and timestamp. The MAC and timestamp ensure the integrity and authenticity of distress signals, while backward compatibility enables seamless integration with existing beacons. The proposed solution was evaluated in both a laboratory setting and a real-world satellite environment, demonstrating its practicality and effectiveness. Experimental results indicate that our solution can effectively prevent attacks such as spoofing, man-in-the-middle, and replay attacks. This solution represents a significant step toward enhancing the security of COSPAS-Sarsat beacon communication, making it more resilient to cyberattacks, and ensuring the timely and accurate delivery of distress signals to search and rescue authorities.

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Shaofei Li (Key Laboratory of High-Confidence Software Technologies (MOE), School of Computer Science, Peking University), Feng Dong (Huazhong University of Science and Technology), Xusheng Xiao (Arizona State University), Haoyu Wang (Huazhong University of Science and Technology), Fei Shao (Case Western Reserve University), Jiedong Chen (Sangfor Technologies Inc.), Yao Guo (Key Laboratory of High-Confidence Software Technologies…

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Hexuan Yu (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Changlai Du (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Yang Xiao (University of Kentucky), Angelos Keromytis (Georgia Institute of Technology), Chonggang Wang (InterDigital), Robert Gazda (InterDigital), Y. Thomas Hou (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Wenjing Lou (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)

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Kosei Akama (Keio University), Yoshimichi Nakatsuka (ETH Zurich), Masaaki Sato (Tokai University), Keisuke Uehara (Keio University)

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