PLDT aims for dominance in RP's telecom industry

TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and its subsidiary Mabuhay Satellite Corporation (Mabuhay) have inked several agreements with a Bermuda company.

The agreement aims to further enhance PLDT's dominance in the country's telecom industry.

PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said: "PLDT's investment in ProtoStar Ltd. affirms PLDT's commitment to the telecommunications industry and provides a platform for future growth in the industry through one of Asia's upcoming regional satellite operators."

He said the agreement will cover among others an exchange of certain Mabuhay assets for an equity position in ProtoStar; expanded use of Mabuhay's Subic Space Center for the operation and control of satellites; an option for PLDT to make further investments in ProtoStar; and an agreement for PLDT to lease C-band transponder capacity on ProtoStar's recently launched ProtoStar I satellite.

"Overall, the agreements should enhance ProtoStar's pan-Asian reach while extending Mabuhay's presence in the region," Pangilinan added.

Napoleon Nazareno, chairman of Mabuhay, noted that "PLDT and Mabuhay's collaboration with ProtoStar will enable PLDT to enjoy full diversity and protection for its satellite needs as ProtoStar continues with its satellite fleet expansion plans.

The PLDT group uses significant satellite capacity for its GSM backhaul requirements for its rural cell sites, and this diversification will add to the robustness of the PLDT Group's network."

"We are happy that ProtoStar has found value in Mabuhay's Satellite Telemetry, Tracking and Control capabilities which have been built through our experience in ably operating the Agila-2 satellite. This collaboration with ProtoStar ushers Philippine satellite operations into a new era of growth," he said.

ProtoStar Ltd. is an Asian satellite services operator that was formed to acquire, launch and operate high-power geostationary satellites to lease capacity to Asian DTH (direct-to-home) and broadband service providers.

Launched on July 7, 2008 in Kourou, French Guiana, ProtoStar I has on board 22 Ku-band transponders and 38 C-band transponders (all 36Mhz equivalents).

The Ku-band transponders will support the rapidly expanding DTH television markets of India and IndoChina, while the C-band transponders will serve the rapidly growing cellular phone markets of Southeast Asia.

A transponder is a wireless communications or control device that picks up and responds to an incoming signal.

Philip Father, president of ProtoStar Ltd., said, "This collaboration represents a win-win for PLDT, Mabuhay and ProtoStar in that together we expand our satellite fleets and customer base as well as our ground systems in a value-adding strategic manner that is terrific for our respective customers and shareholders."

Father said a ProtoStar II satellite is now in its final manufacturing stages with a scheduled launch in the spring of 2009.

ProtoStar plans to develop and launch several other satellites in the coming years to serve Asia's businesses requiring transponder capacity. (MSN/Sunnex)

Car satellite navigation systems can be hacked--experts

Agence France-Presse

LAS VEGAS -- Satellite navigation systems in cars can be hijacked remotely with relative ease, allowing hackers to feed drivers bogus directions, two experts told a major security conference here.

Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco from the website Inverse Path demonstrated Thursday how antennas and a patchwork of commonly available electronics can be employed to replace the legitimate traffic information radioed to the systems with false instructions.

The hacker tool works on in-car Radio Data System "SatNav" devices standard in Europe, which are becoming increasingly common in North America and are due to debut this year in Australia, Barisani told security professionals meeting in Las Vegas for the Black Hat digital self-defense conference.

"If we can make it, anyone can make it," Barisani said as he and Bianco assembled their hacking masterpiece for their seminar. "We type on keyboards all day and aren't very mechanical."

While navigation systems plot routes using stored maps and satellites, the systems receive perpetual updates about traffic accidents, road closures or other conditions that sometimes call for setting new courses.

The updated information is sent in packets of computer code on FM radio frequencies, sometimes sharing wavelengths with radio programs.

The hacking device can "sniff out" and replace legitimate traffic data on existing channels or create fake broadcasts on unused frequencies, according to Barisani.

Its signal can easily be boosted to a 16 kilometer (10 miles) radius, he said.

In-car navigation systems continually scan for data channels, downloading information about traffic, weather, and road problems.

"We can see what is going on and change the destination," Barisani said.

"We can create bad weather, fresh snow, full car parks, accidents...close bridges, roads or tunnels, and the SatNav will pop-up a detour."

Barisani referred to re-routing GPS-dependent drivers as the "keep your parents from getting home attack."

The two Italian experts said they discovered mischief-inspiring pre-programmed alerts they could trigger, among them the messages "air raid," "bomb," "bull fight," and "boxing match."

"You can mine all the highway, sending alerts for bombs, air crashes and terrorist incidents without end -- World War III on your highway," Barisani said. "The boxing match makes sense, because after an accident in Italy you get boxing on the highway."

The results of hacks were sent to the Traffic Message Channel in Europe that handles the sending of updates and alerts to in-car devices.

TMC wrote back that "pirate radio" stations are illegal and it is confident protections are built into devices, according to letters posted at the website of Inverse Path, where Barisani is chief security officer.

"The problem is people implicitly trust these things," Barisani said of in-car navigation systems. "You worry about viruses in your computer at home but not in your car. This is an open door to software running your car."