I wasn't doubting that is a real satellite, just whether they hacked that, or an engineering spare laid out on a table, which seems to be common for satellite hacking challenges.

Ah. That sentence you quoted:

"Throughout the exercise, ESA had access to the satellite's systems to retain control and ensure a return to normal operation."

My reading of this: ESA let the teams attempt their hacks on the real satellite under supervision.

I guess I don't understand your implicit distrust here - it's just a 2 million EUR, 7 kg satellite explicitly launched for communications experiements.

>I guess I don't understand your implicit mistrust here

It is a private press release by a company on its own site, advertising same services touted in the release. I assume every truth that can be bent in their favor has been done so by the PR and Marketing teams. However, the youtube video above with the interview seems much more unequivocal.

There are times and places that call for extreme levels of cynicism. This is not it.

Pretty sure marketing copy is exactly where it is called forl