WEBVTT

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Your phone call just traveled 22 ,000 miles through

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space It was completely unencrypted and someone

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with an $800 satellite dish heard every word

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of that conversation This isn't hypothetical.

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It's happening right now to millions of people

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and most of them have no idea I'm Tyler Woodward.

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This is the Tyler Woodward project and today

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we're talking about why you're most private data,

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your voice calls, your text messages, your passwords,

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your Google searches might be flying over satellites

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with zero protection and what you can actually

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do about it. In October 2025, researchers at

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UC San Diego and the University of Maryland They

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published a study called Don't Look Up. And here's

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what they did. They bought $800 worth of consumer

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grade satellite equipment. Things like a motorized

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dish, a tuner card, you know, the kind of stuff

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people use to watch satellite TV. They pointed

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it at the sky and they started capturing data

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traveling through geostationary satellites. What

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they found was roughly 50 % of all IP traffic

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they intercepted was completely unencrypted.

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That means unencrypted phone calls, unencrypted

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text messages, unencrypted passwords, unencrypted

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banking credentials, unencrypted everything.

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And here's what that means. You probably have

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data on those satellites right now, and you don't

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know it. Your carrier didn't tell you. Your bank

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didn't warn you. It just happens silently in

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the background. By the end of this episode, you'll

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understand why this is happening, what specific

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data is at risk, and what you can do to protect

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yourself starting today. Let me start with what

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the researchers actually found because this is

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where it stops being abstract When they captured

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the satellite traffic, they saw unencrypted voice

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calls from cellular networks actual conversations

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They could hear people talking They intercepted

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text messages and clear text SMS content they

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could just read right there in the open They

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saw banking credentials usernames and passwords

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transmitted with absolutely zero encryption corporate

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login information internal System traffic They

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also saw DNS queries which means they could see

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what people were searching for on Google medical

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symptoms financial concerns Personal information,

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all readable right there in the open. One researcher

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mentions in the video that when they intercepted

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their first unencrypted phone call and heard

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a real person's voice, they immediately stopped.

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They closed the tool because they were afraid

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of what else they'd find if they kept looking.

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Think about that for a second. An academic researcher.

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Someone whose job it is to document vulnerabilities

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got so disturbed by what they were seeing that

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they immediately had to close the tool. Here's

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why that matters for you specifically. If you've

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ever made a phone call from a remote location,

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maybe a mountain, a royal area, an airplane,

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that call might have been routed through one

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of these satellite backhauls. If it did, and

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if that backhaul wasn't encrypted, someone with

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a satellite dish could have listened in. If you've

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ever texted someone from somewhere with spotty

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cell coverage, that text may have been routed

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over satellite, unencrypted, completely readable.

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If you've ever logged into your email or your

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bank from a remote location, even over HTTPS,

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an attacker on a satellite, could potentially

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see what you're accessing through your bank.

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They could see the timing and the volume of your

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traffic. They could infer things about your behavior.

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So why is your data even on satellites in the

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first place? The simple answer is because fiber

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doesn't go everywhere, not yet. Remote locations,

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mountains, deserts, royal areas, ships, airplanes,

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These places don't have terrestrial infrastructure.

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So, cell carriers, banks, utilities, everyone

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with data to move, they utilize satellites as

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the backhaul. When you make a call from a remote

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cell tower, that call gets digitized, packetized,

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and sent up to a geostationary satellite. The

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satellite rebroadcasts it. Someone at a hub station

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on the ground receives it. and then routes it

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to wherever it needs to go. Your data doesn't

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stay on a secure network during that process.

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It becomes an IP packet. That packet travels

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through space and the person receiving it at

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the hub on the ground has no way to know if it's

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been intercepted by someone else. And here's

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the thing. Geostationary satellites are in a

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fixed position above the equator. From any location

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in North America, you can see between 30 and

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40 different satellites at any given time. When

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a ground station sends a signal up to one of

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those satellites, that satellite doesn't send

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it in a tight beam to one receiving station.

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It broadcasts it over thousands of square miles.

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Anyone and that footprint with the right equipment

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could potentially receive it. For television,

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this was solved decades ago. TV signals are scrambled,

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you need a decoder box to watch it. But, IP traffic?

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Often, no encryption at all. Here's the frustrating

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part. This problem isn't new. It's not a surprise

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vulnerability that just got discovered The satellite

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industry has known for decades that unencrypted

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backhaul is a risk. They just decided not to

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fix it. Why? Well, because encryption cost money.

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Satellite equipment vendors sell encryption as

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a separate expensive license, but not a feature.

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A license. You buy the modem, and then you pay

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extra to enable IPSec or link layer scrambling

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of some sort. From a business perspective, if

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you're a satellite or a cellular carrier operating

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remote towers, you have to do a risk calculation.

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The cost of encryption versus the probability

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that someone will intercept this specific satellite

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link. For a long time, The calculation looked

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like the probability is low, so we'll skip that

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feature for now. That calculation just got proven

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catastrophically wrong. When the researchers

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contacted T -Mobile about their unencrypted cellular

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backhaul, T -Mobile responded within weeks. They

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implemented encryption because the liability

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of saying, We were transmitting your phone calls

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unencrypted over satellites. Is, you know, existential.

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Other organizations the researchers contacted,

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slower responses. Some encrypted quickly, others

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are still assessing their options. Here's the

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real problem. There's no regulatory pressure

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to fix this. In January 2025, the FCC tried to

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mandate basic cybersecurity for telecommunication

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carriers. That included encryption on important

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links. In November of 2025, weeks after this

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satellite research went public, the FCC rolled

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it back. 2 to 1 vote. They said, mandatory security

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wasn't quote effective unquote. So we're in a

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regulatory vacuum. There's no legal requirement

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that your carrier encrypt their satellite backhaul.

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There's no standard that says encryption must

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be the default. The leverage is all with the

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companies themselves at this point. Let me make

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this concrete with Actual scenarios that apply

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to you scenario one You're traveling and make

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a phone call from a remote area Your call is

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routed via satellite backhaul. If that backhaul

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is unencrypted, which is common Your conversation

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is being broadcast across space Someone with

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a satellite receiver can listen They can hear

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your voice the other person's voice everything

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you say Scenario 2 You text from an airplane

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or a remote location Your SMS is routed via satellite

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unencrypted Someone can read it Scenario 3 You're

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on a flight. You know the flights Wi -Fi and

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log into your email Your login credentials are

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traveling through multiple networks, some of

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which might be satellite based. Even with HTTPS

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on the web browser, an attacker can see you're

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accessing your email provider. They can see the

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timing and volume of your traffic, which tells

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them something about your behavior. Scenario

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4 You're in a royal area with spotty cellular

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signal and you do a Google search That DNS query

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the request to look up that domain might travel

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via satellite Unencrypted an attacker can see

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what you're searching for your medical symptoms

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your financial concerns your personal secrets

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and lastly scenario five you access your bank's

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website from a remote location. With HTTPS, your

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password is encrypted, but an attacker can see

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that you're accessing your bank. They can see

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when you access it, how often, the volume of

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data transferred, they can infer things about

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your financial behavior. The common thread here

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You probably don't know when your data is being

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routed through satellite systems. Your phone's

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not going to tell you. Your bank doesn't tell

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you. Your carrier doesn't tell you. It just happens.

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So, you can't control whether your carrier uses

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satellite backhaul. You can't control whether

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they encrypt it. But you can still protect yourself.

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First, Use end -to -end encrypted messaging.

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Things like Signal, WhatsApp, iMessage, or another

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encrypted messenger instead of plain SMS. These

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apps encrypt your message on your phone, and

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that encryption survives the journey through

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the satellite. Even if an attacker intercepts

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the satellite traffic, they can't read what was

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in that message. This is the single most effective

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thing you can do right out the gate Second use

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a VPN when you're in a remote area if you're

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relying on satellite internet Sellier and a remote

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location or in -flight Wi -Fi turn on that VPN

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a Good VPN encrypts all your traffic before it

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leaves your device So even if your data routes

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through one of these unencrypted satellite links,

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it's encrypted by the VPN. The satellite operator

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sees the encrypted traffic, but can't actually

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see what the data is. Now, this doesn't make

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you 100 % safe. The VPN provider themselves could

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theoretically see your traffic if they wanted

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to. So, make sure to use a VPN that you trust.

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But I'll tell you this it's dramatically better

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than nothing at all third use HTTPS everywhere

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Most browsers enforce HTTPS by default now anyways,

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so this is mostly automatic But if you see a

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padlock and HTTPS in your address bar, you're

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encrypted at the application layer If a website

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offers both HTTP and HTTPS, always go for HTTPS.

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Fourth, don't assume corporate networks are secure

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just because they're on your phone. If your company

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has a corporate VPN app or a corporate email

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app, use it. Don't just use your personal browser

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to access corporate resources from a remote location.

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The corporate app likely has additional encryption

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and security built into it. Fifth, be skeptical

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about banking from a remote location. If you're

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banking from a remote area, use the official

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bank app rather than the website if possible.

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Apps often have better security than the browser

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-based access. If you must use a browser, verify

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you're on the real website with a valid HTTPS

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certificate. Six, understand what's at risk.

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Medical data, financial data, passwords, personal

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information. These shouldn't be transmitted over

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encrypted links, period, full stop. If you can

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defer that transmission until you're on a secure

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network, do it. If you can't defer it, encrypt

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it. None of these steps are going to be perfect,

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but collectively they make you a much harder

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target than someone who's just transmitting everything

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and clear text over satellites. Here's what should

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concern you more than your personal privacy.

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This is a systemic vulnerability in how critical

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infrastructure operates. The researchers found

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unencrypted cellular backhaul, banking systems,

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utility operators. Not all of it was encrypted,

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but roughly half of what they intercepted was

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completely exposed. Imagine if someone with bad

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intentions, not academic researchers, gained

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this capability. Imagine if they spent six months

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intercepting cell backhaul data, identifying

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patterns, understanding when high -value individuals

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are traveling. They could know when a CEO is

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in a remote location. They could intercept financial

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transactions. They could monitor critical infrastructure

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operations. Again, this isn't hypothetical. Geostationary

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satellites are visible to anyone in a wide geographic

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area. The equipment is consumer grade and available

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on the open market. The knowledge is now public.

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The scary part isn't what academics prove. The

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scary part is that It's been possible for so

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long and almost nobody cared enough to fix it

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Here's what I think and my opinion should happen

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again my opinion Satellite operators should encrypt

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all IP traffic by default Not as some sort of

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optional premium feature as a baseline encryption

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should be included, not sold separately. And

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if that makes the price higher for equipment,

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so be it. Telecommunication carriers should mandate

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encryption in their service agreements with these

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satellite operators. They should say, if you're

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carrying our traffic, it has to be encrypted.

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And, obviously. regulatory bodies should require

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it. Here's what will probably happen though.

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Companies that get breached or face public scandal

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because of unencrypted satellite data will start

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demanding encryption from their vendors. Their

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vendors will respond by enabling it. Eventually,

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encryption will become standard because the cost

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of not doing so exceeds the cost of implementing

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it. Of course, it's going to take years. In the

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meantime, your data is still floating through

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space unencrypted, visible to anyone with the

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right equipment. If there's anything you should

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take away from this, it should be this. Some

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of your data is routed through satellites right

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now. You don't know when. You don't know which

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data. But if you live in or travel to remote

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areas, use in -flight wifi, or rely on cell and

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royal regions, it's happening. Not just fear.

00:20:11.470 --> 00:20:17.710
That's how infrastructure works. 2. Encryption

00:20:17.710 --> 00:20:21.849
is never guaranteed. Just because your phone

00:20:21.849 --> 00:20:25.549
feels secure doesn't mean the backhaul is secure.

00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.799
Just because you're using a cellular network

00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.839
doesn't mean your data is encrypted end -to -end.

00:20:32.339 --> 00:20:37.460
Your carrier is responsible for their own backhaul,

00:20:38.140 --> 00:20:42.420
and many carriers are not enforcing encryption.

00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:48.440
And third, you can protect yourself, but you

00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:52.059
have to do it intentionally. Use Signal or some

00:20:52.059 --> 00:20:55.339
other encrypted messenger. Use a VPN in remote

00:20:55.339 --> 00:20:59.579
areas. Check for HTTPS. Don't transmit passwords

00:20:59.579 --> 00:21:02.819
or sensitive data over unencrypted links if you

00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:09.019
can avoid it. These steps work. Do them. And

00:21:09.019 --> 00:21:12.700
if you're going to remember one thing from this

00:21:12.700 --> 00:21:17.319
episode, satellite backhaul is not a secure communications

00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:20.140
link. It's getting there, but it's going to take

00:21:20.140 --> 00:21:23.490
time. It's a radio signal broadcast that crossed

00:21:23.490 --> 00:21:29.829
hundreds of miles. Treat it as such. When researchers

00:21:29.829 --> 00:21:34.210
at UC San Diego started studying satellite security,

00:21:34.910 --> 00:21:38.490
they were asking a very simple question. How

00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:44.710
easy is it to spy on satellites? Turns out the

00:21:44.710 --> 00:21:49.390
answer is pretty easy. And it's happening right

00:21:49.390 --> 00:21:55.250
now. to millions of people. Your phone call from

00:21:55.250 --> 00:21:58.910
a remote location might be flying over satellites

00:21:58.910 --> 00:22:03.049
unencrypted. Your text messages? Same thing.

00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:07.509
Your password? Same thing. The fix isn't complicated.

00:22:08.849 --> 00:22:12.089
It's just encryption. But until the industry

00:22:12.089 --> 00:22:16.470
decides that encryption is the baseline and not

00:22:16.470 --> 00:22:20.670
a luxury, your data... is going to be public.

00:22:22.349 --> 00:22:25.710
Visit TylerWoodward .me for links to the full

00:22:25.710 --> 00:22:27.950
Don't Look Up research paper. I'm gonna put it

00:22:27.950 --> 00:22:31.809
in the description. A technical breakdown of

00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:36.130
how satellite backhauls work and a guide to choosing

00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:40.789
the right VPN if you're in any of these situations.

00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.599
If you want more stuff like this, follow at tylerwoodward

00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:53.700
.me on threads and blue sky. I post quick security

00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:57.619
tips, interesting new research, and my take on

00:22:57.619 --> 00:23:01.900
how the industry is reacting. And if this episode

00:23:01.900 --> 00:23:04.740
was helpful, hit subscribe, drop a like, give

00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:08.039
it a rating on your favorite podcast platform

00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:12.339
so you don't miss the next one. Thanks for hanging

00:23:12.339 --> 00:23:14.480
out with me today. I'm Tyler. This is the Tyler

00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.539
Woodward Project. I'll catch you next week.