[Satellite TODAY 10-31-11] Hackers interfered with two U.S. satellites on four separate occasions between 2007 and 2008, according to prepared documents for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

            The Bloomberg News Agency reported Oct. 28 that the incidents involved the Landsat-7 and Terra AM-1 Earth observation systems and that the satellites were targeted through a ground station in Norway.

“A Landsat-7 earth observation satellite system experienced 12 or more minutes of interference in October 2007 and July 2008. Hackers interfered with a Terra AM-1 earth observation satellite twice, for two minutes in June 2008 and nine minutes in October that year, the draft says, citing a closed-door U.S. Air Force briefing,” according to the report.

            In an Oct. 27 statement to the Washington Post, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano admitted that hackers have “come close several times to shutting down elements of the nation’s infrastructure … Wall Street firms and transportation systems are frequent cyber attack targets.”