faq /// faq /// faq /// faq
Last Updated: 9/18/2023
Check back here often. Responses to all submitted frequently asked questions will be posted here and updated regularly. Have a question you don’t see answered here? Send it to [email protected].
Hack-A-Sat 4 Finals
Who won HAS4?
mHACKeroni took home 1st place and $50K at HAS4 Finals. Poland Can Into Space placed 2nd ($30K) and jmPFS: [rcx] placed 3rd ($20K). Five teams total were selected for the Hack-A-Sat 4 Finals from over 700 teams competing in Quals.
Why were there 5 teams at Finals this year?
On careful consideration, five was the ideal number of teams to ensure fair and interesting game dynamics with the finite number of orbital passes Moonlighter made during the game hours at DEF CON 31.
What is this Moonlighter thing?
Moonlighter is the world’s first purpose-built satellite just for cybersecurity training and research. It’s literally a hacking sandbox in space, that launched in 2023 and hosted the Hack-A-Sat 4 Finals competition.
When did Moonlighter launch?
Moonlighter launched on June 5th as part of an International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission from Kennedy Space Center on SpX-28. After a short visit with the ISS, Moonlighter deployed into Low Earth Orbit on July 6th, 2023.
Rules and Eligibility
Will there be a Hack-A-Sat 5 contest?
Any information on future HAS events will be posted to hackasat.com, HAS socials and sent to our mailing list ( be sure to sign up at the bottom of the homepage).
Who is eligible to compete in Hack-A-Sat?
The Hack-A-Sat competition is open to all individuals, nationalities, ages, academic institutions and business entities, subject to the caveats in Section 5.1 of the Rules.
What kind of skills are needed to be successful in the Hack-A-Sat Competitions?
Successful teams will need to have a diverse set of skills from both the cyber and space domains. This prize competition is meant to create a two-way bridge between traditional cyber security professionals who are accustomed to categories like web, forensics, crypto, binaries, protocols, etc, and satellite designers and operators who think in terms of TLEs, quaternions, and two body problems. Make sure to visit our Players’ Corner for a deep dive on required skills!
Hack-a-sat 4 Quals
- Aerocapture the Flag: Correct orbit, adjust attitude, and prepare for entry to capture the spaceflags!
- Can’t Stop the Signal, Mal: Transmitters are live. Can you handle the signal?
- Pure Pwnage: You hack faster with your hoodie on
- Anomaly Review Bored: Meeting time is over, satellite operating time is just beginning
- Van Halen Radiation Belt: At 640 to 59,000 km my unpredictable effects are felt
- The Magician: Aspirational and inexperienced, a cultivation of potential
- The Kitchen: Get cooking with these starter challenges
Where can I learn more about what happened at the Hack-A-Sat 4 Qualification Event?
Here’s the official scoreboard from HAS4 Quals. All Hack-A-Sat 4 quals challenges and solutions are available to the public at GitHub – cromulencellc/hackasat-qualifier-2023.
And here’s the HAS4 Quals Challenge writeups and even some source code from our Finalist teams: : GitHub – cromulencellc/hackasat-qualifier-2023-techpapers: hackasat-qualifier-2023-techpapers.
Media
The Hack-A-Sat team would be thrilled to have you share any content posted from our public Twitter/X handle (@Hack_A_Sat) or our official website hackasat.com. Be sure to #HackASat4 when you share!