JANUS: Denial-of-Service Attack Against Beam Hopping in LEO Satellite Networks

2026-09-17

AI Summary

本文提出JANUS攻击，通过操纵LEO卫星网络中的波束跳转调度器对需求的看法，使用少量受控终端注入流量以实现对目标区域的拒绝服务。

Abstract

Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks are increasingly used to provide global connectivity. However, each satellite has limited resources that need to be allocated according to demand, which varies geographically and over time. Beam hopping addresses this challenge by dividing a satellite's service area into geographic cells. Rather than illuminating every cell simultaneously, it dynamically assigns available beams to a selected subset based on demand. This reliance on observed traffic demand as an input to beam-selection decisions creates a new attack surface whose security implications have received little attention. In this paper, we present JANUS, a novel targeted denial-of-service attack against beam-hopping systems in LEO networks. We show that a small botnet of compromised terminals can inject legitimate user traffic into carefully selected non-victim cells to manipulate the beam-hopping scheduler's view of demand. This manipulation alters beam-allocation decisions and redirects service away from the targeted victim area. We evaluate JANUS across different system configurations, schedulers, attack horizons, and attacker-knowledge settings to characterize the attack's effectiveness, required resources, and resulting service disruption over time. Against a rank-based KMAX scheduler, JANUS achieves complete service denial for up to approximately 95% of evaluated victims. Against DRL, JANUS can exclude the victim from approximately 92% of scheduling decisions. Finally, we evaluate mitigation strategies that reduce the attack effectiveness.

Problem

• Denial-of-Service Attack
• Beam Hopping
• LEO Satellite Networks
• Botnet
• Scheduling

Innovation

• Denial-of-Service
• Beam Hopping
• LEO Satellite Networks
• Traffic Manipulation
• Scheduler