Risk: Informational
A Ministry of Defence satellite has been hacked by a group of British hackers based in the south of England. No arrests have yet been made, but Scotland Yard's Computer Crimes Unit and GCHQ's Communications Electronics Security Group are investigating the hackers with assistance from the US Air Force and it is understood that arrests are imminent.
The Serious Fraud Office isn't involved in investigating the hack, as the satellite wasn't moved and no attempt was made to blackmail the MoD; it's thought that it was more of a mischievous act than an attempt to cause any real trouble. The 'characteristics' of the satellite were changed, provoking a "frenetic" rather than panic-striken reaction from the MoD.
This isn't the first time that a satellite has been hacked; a few years ago an American hacker, 'Capn Midnight', hacked into a US TV satellite and replaced some of the channels with a test card, protesting about pay television.