It is known that a signifiant part of the world’s satellite communication is unencrypted and trivially eavesdropped on with cheap modern software-defined radios (see, e.g., [1]). While novel and performant security solutions have been developed [2] and tested [3] in the Satellite Lab of the Cyber-Defence Campus, their full capabilities remain unclear. This project will look at the performance of QPEP in modern networks, including LEO systems such as Starlink and compare it with alternative security solutions (Wireguard, OpenVPN).

[1] A Tale of Sea and Sky: On the Security of Maritime VSAT Communications James Pavur‚ Daniel Moser‚ Martin Strohmeier‚ Vincent Lenders and Ivan Martinovic In 2020 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P). IEEE. May, 2020.

[2] QPEP: An Actionable Approach to Secure and Performant Broadband From Geostationary Orbit James Pavur‚ Martin Strohmeier‚ Vincent Lenders and Ivan Martinovic In The Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS). February, 2021.

[3] QPEP in the Real World: A Testbed for Secure Satellite Communication Performance Julian Huwyler‚ James Pavur‚ Giorgio Tresoldi and Martin Strohmeier In Workshop on the Security of Space and Satellite Systems (SpaceSec23). February, 2023.