By Staff Writer.
Direct cyber-attacks on satellites may still be relatively rare, but open literature has documented more than 100 contemporary satellite hacking incidents.
According to an international paper, An International Technical Standard for Commercial Space System Cybersecurity – A Call to Action, published by Gregory Falco of Johns Hopkins University in October, 2022, despite the significant increase in cyber threats to space systems, structured technical community engagement in space cybersecurity and mission resilience with an emphasis on the systematic advancement of technical guidance is lacking.
The international group of co-authors propose the development of a space system cybersecurity technical standard intended for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) modular space systems, such as CubeSats.
Two of the Australian contributors to the paper included Dr Daniel Floreani, Director of CyberOps and Professor Jill Slay, UniSA SmartSat CRC Chair of Cyber Security and ISC2 Board Director, both speaking last week at the second Cyber Risk Meetup in Adelaide.
Professor Slay provided, “since late February 2022, concerns about cyber security attacks on satellite communications and the dependability of their services to support critical business functions have grown and accelerated among international organisations. These concerns stem from the multifaceted cyberattack, which targeted Viasat, a global Satcoms provider, at the beginning of Russia’s war with Ukraine and disrupted internet service for tens of thousands of satellite modems there and throughout Europe. Many are aware too of the attacks on Elon Musk’s SpaceX when it supplied Internet service to Ukraine and the international degradation of service that followed.” (references available)
Focused on how to create a secure future in the space supply chain, last Wednesday’s sundowner brought the space and cybersecurity communities together, and provided a great opportunity for networking and engagement with a live Q&A that provided valuable insights for securing a myriad of attack vectors and possible vulnerabilities in one of our most critical industries.
In addition to Professor Slay and Dr Floreani, special thanks to the evening’s speakers, Michael Davis AO, Chair and Founder of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, Kelly Yeoh, Co-Founder & Director of Blue Dwarf Space; and Jeremy Watkinson, Associate Director, KPMG (KPMG Government Cyber team).
The key takeaway from the evening was put simply, the space cyber security industry and its research community has not yet developed internationally accepted standards for the manufacture and launch of secure satellites. In their own work in Adelaide, Professor Slay has developed new definitions and a space cyber security domain mapping so that industry and academia can understand what needs to be secured.
There is much yet to be done in this specialist field of OT Cybersecurity.
Sponsors KPMG Adelaide and Rubrik with community partners MySecurity Marketplace, Sekuro and Austcyber.
You can read more – Satellite Cyber Resilience Whitepaper.
