Satellites beam data down to the Earth all around us, all the time. “They assumed that no one was ever going to check and scan all these satellites and see what was out there. “They just really didn't think anyone would look up.”The researchers say that they’ve spent nearly the past year warning companies and agencies whose sensitive data they found exposed in satellite communications. Most of them, including T-Mobile, moved quickly to encrypt those communications and protect the data. Others, including some owners of vulnerable US critical infrastructure whom the researchers alerted more recently—and declined to name to WIRED—have yet to add encryption to their satellite-based systems.