How safe are you when using a satellite phone, the question is “how secure is it”. A satellite method of communication is a more fancy mode of communication when compared to the more traditional GSM, in this article, we will dissect as to how secure this method of communication is.
Also in this article will be a comparison of GSM network vs satellite communications.
GSM mentioned in this aritcle, is the system in which mobile phones runs on.
More specifically will be on, how likely a satellite phone signal can intercepted, tracked of it’s location and phone bugged or have a listening device installed onto it so that the “bugging” device re-transmits conversation to a third party.
How does a satellite phone work
To get a better idea on the security of satellite phones, let us first look at how satellite communication works.
A satellite phone, also known as a satphone, uses a network of satellites orbiting the Earth to communicate. When a call or message is placed on a satellite phone, it is sent through the phone’s built-in antenna to a nearby satellite.
The satellite then relays the call or message to a ground-based station, which routes it to its intended destination.
Satellite phones operate on a different frequency than traditional cellular phones and require a clear line-of-sight to the sky in order to communicate. Unlike cellular phones, which can only be used in the coverage area of a particular network, satphones can be used in remote or hard-to-reach areas where terrestrial networks do not exist.
The image above better illustrates how a satellite phone communicates, as shown, a satellite phone directly communicates with the satellite and there is no party in between to intercept and listen into the communication.
Mobile phones however, goes through a gateway and is susceptible to interceptions.
This is the reason why, they are banned in some countries, due to their governments inability to censor or basically spy on people, terror groups began using satphones for malicious purposes which lead to the banning of these devices in countries like India.
Only Inmarsat phones are allowed while the other two, Thuraya and Iridium are banned.
With inmarsat being able to operate in these two countries, tells us that there is something with their service that these two governments are satisfied with, with China being a heavily censored country.
The government maybe cannot tap into phones using these services (just a thought)
Can a satellite phone be bugged or intercepted?
The meaning of bugging is; to place a miniature microphone radio transmitter into a device so that the conversation can be listened to remotely (or recorded).
If you suspect that your satellite device is bugged, get a testing kit that finds bugs inside of your devices. As for interception, It is highly unlikely for your conversations to be intercepted by a third party. Let’s find out as to why.
Security of satellite phone vs GSM phones
The reason why this mode of communication is secured, is because satellite communications as with other modes like GSM or Global System for mobile communications are encrypted, encryption is simply jumbling up the transmitted data so that it is not understandable, if it is intercepted, it will need an encryption key inorder to be rearranged back into the order that it was initially transmitted.
With it sending data straight to low orbiting satellites, the likelihood of “vocal” and text data being intercepted is slim to none.
Satellite phones use encryption to secure voice and data communications. One common encryption method used in satellite phones is AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), which is a symmetric key algorithm that uses the same key for both encryption and decryption.
AES is widely considered to be a secure encryption method and is used in a variety of applications, including satellite communications.
Other encryption methods that may be used in satellite phones include DES (Data Encryption Standard) and RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman). The specific encryption method used will depend on the satellite phone provider and the type of device being used.
So theoretically, satellite communication is secure.
GSM network on the other hand has to pass through a few nodes before reaching its intended destination (namely, the network control center) , this makes prone to interception as most governments run surveillance on it’s citizens.
Although is passes through a few nodes, it is also encrypted, GSM uses digital encryption to ensure the security of the calls and to prevent unauthorized access to the network. This encryption is done using the A5/1 algorithm.
Can a satellite phone be tracked
A satellite phone can be tracked by methods of triangulation, it will be easy to pin point where a satellite signal is originating from through triangulation.
Signal triangulation is a method used to determine the location of a device or object by measuring the strength and/or arrival time of a signal from multiple sources. It is commonly used in navigation and positioning systems such as GPS, as well as in cellular networks for determining the location of a mobile phone.
The method involves measuring the signal from at least three different locations and using trigonometry to calculate the position of the device or object based on the measured signal strengths and/or arrival times.
Conclusion
Satellite phones are very secure because of encryption, which, as opposed to GSM mobile phones which can be intercepted, bugged and tracked.
Although a satellite phones location could be tracked, it is less likely that the tracker, will be listening to the on going conversations as it passes through no secondary node or device.