The rise of satellite-based Wi-Fi through large-scale
satellite constellations offers unprecedented global connectivity,
requiring only a small receiver for internet access from virtually
anywhere. However, this technology introduces new security
vulnerabilities, with one such vulnerability being a reliance
on GPS signals, which are susceptible to spoofing attacks.
While previous research has explored different GPS spoofing
techniques, the impact of such attacks on satellite-based internet
systems remains largely unexplored. This study examined the
effects of GPS spoofing on a satellite-based internet receiver
through a controlled experiment using a HackRF One to conduct
an impersonation attack. The receiver was spoofed to various
locations to assess the effect on network performance. A total
of 63 tests were successfully performed. Of these, 54 tests used
the speed test of the app associated to the satellite receiver to
measure download speed, latency, and packet loss percentage.
The remaining 9 tests used Wireshark to monitor a 1 GB
file download, recording average throughput, average packet
size, and total download time. Experiment results indicate that
network performance remained largely unaffected. For example
average download speed changing at most ±10 Mbit/s for all
spoofing distances, even when a handheld GPS device was
successfully spoofed. Two outliers were observed during testing,
both occurring in the app speed tests. These findings suggest
that the satellite signal receivers either employ additional built-in
protections against spoofing or mitigate such attacks by leverag-
ing the satellite constellation for location verification. While this
study provides initial insights, further research utilizing more
sophisticated attack techniques and hardware modifications is
needed to comprehensively evaluate the resilience of modern
satellite internet receivers against GPS spoofing attacks.

Satellite Communication