Satellite terminal (VSAT): what it is and how it is attacked
A dish or flat panel that connects a site to the internet through a satellite.
Also known as
- VSAT
- satcom
- satellite internet
- BGAN
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It is often the only link at a remote site, a ship or a vehicle, which makes it both the lifeline and the single path an adversary needs to sit on.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- One link with no alternative, so loss of the link is loss of the site
- Traffic assumed private because the path is unusual, when the downlink covers a very wide area
- Fleets of identical terminals updated centrally, so one supplier problem reaches every site at once
What reduces it
- Encrypt end to end and treat the link as public, because directional does not mean unhearable
- Decide what the site does offline before it has to
- Ask how the provider authorises updates before signing, since the fleet moves together
Where it sits
- Group
- Wireless and radio · The parts of the network that travel through the air, and how far they reach.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- satellite-terminal
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in wireless and radio
- Wi-Fi access pointAP · wireless · WAPLets devices join the network without a cable.
- Wireless network nameSSID · network name · WLAN · guest wifiThe name devices show in their list of available wireless networks.
- Wireless controllerWLC · wireless LAN controller · AP controller · cloud-managed wirelessThe single system that configures and watches every wireless access point.
- Mobile broadband router4G router · 5G router · cellular modem · MiFi · dongle · tetheringA box, or a phone, that gives a network its own connection through the mobile phone network.
- Satellite time and location receiverGPS · GNSS · GPS clock · grandmaster clock · timing sourceA device that works out where it is, and what the time is, from satellites.
- Bluetooth deviceBT · Bluetooth Low Energy · BLE · pairing · wireless keyboardSomething that connects to a phone or a computer over a short-range radio link: a headset, a keyboard, a car.
- Low-power radio deviceLoRa · LoRaWAN · Zigbee · Z-Wave · sub-GHz · wireless sensorA small battery-powered sensor or switch that sends short messages over a long range: a meter, a door contact, a thermostat.
- Radio gatewayIoT gateway · LoRaWAN gateway · Zigbee hub · protocol bridge · smart hubThe box that turns messages from small wireless sensors into ordinary network traffic.
- Contactless readerNFC reader · tap reader · payment terminal · card terminalA pad that reads a card, a phone or a wristband held against it, usually to take a payment.
- Wireless monitoring sensorWIDS · WIPS · wireless intrusion detection · air monitorEquipment that listens to the airwaves and reports transmitters that should not be there.
The wireless and radio group lists all 11 of them side by side.
Satellite terminal on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type VSAT. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker