Cybersecurity best practice is critical for winning the new space race
As the low Earth orbit market prepares to double over the next five years, to the tune of around $20 billion, we sit on the edge of a new space race. However, amid rapidly falling launch costs and a host of technological advancements, it’s safe to say that this race is heading into new territory.
These digitizations relate to the role of sensors and data processing, and a plethora of applications that aid ground control and observation operations.
One segment of the race that is still yet to pick up speed, however, relates to cybersecurity. The implications of attacks on satellites are self-evident, but the resilience and protection of these galactical systems require further exploration and a mass team effort.
Familiarity in Space
The difficulties that come with protecting devices in space comprise multiple complex systems within systems — each playing different roles and being deployed by different players.
Satellites are effectively just platforms with embedded systems and interfaces, including radio communications, telemetry tracking control systems, and ground segment connections. These are all essentially enterprise networks, but that also makes them avenues of opportunity for cybercriminals.
These systems are underpinned by a complex supply chain — another prime target for attackers, as we’ve seen on the ground through examples like SolarWinds, where the supply chain served as a gateway to all other interfaces.
Not only does this make systems in space more familiar than you might think, it also makes them more challenging to defend.
As such, the satellite door is potentially being left ajar to hacktivists, financial crusaders, and state-acting spies who can use their significant resources to target other countries’ prized space assets.
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