Space ISAC Team, from right to left: Ashley Moulder, Executive Coordinator, Frank Backes, CEO of Capella Space and Space ISAC President, Samuel Visner, Tech Fellow at The Aerospace Corporation and Chair of the Board of Directors at Space ISAC, Erin Miller, Executive Director, Whitney Johnson, Program Director, Mairead Levison, Deputy Director, Sam DuBois, Administrative Coordinator, Hector Falcon, Cyber, Space & Intelligence Principal Integrator and VOSS attendee Antonio Huerta from Senator Hickenlooper’s office.
Space ISAC recently held its 5th Annual Value of Space Summit in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Attendees from government, cybersecurity and commercial space industry participated in discussions on threat intelligence sharing and an ecosystem approach to collective defense. The theme of Geopolitical, Economic, and Cybersecurity Impacts on Global Space brought in attendees from around the world. We bring you the highlights from discussions you may have missed at this year’s summit.
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Space ISAC 2024 Watch Center Key Insights
Funded through a grant with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Space ISAC’s Operational Watch Center enters Phase II planning to keep pace with proliferating threats to space systems. On the third day of the Value of Space Summit, analysts from Space ISAC’s Watch Center team presented an annual overview of the threat environment for the commercial space industry. Derived from key observations and insights through 2024 so far, it remains clear that the industry faces a myriad of threats, led by a diverse set of actors, and exacerbated by the growing attack surface for space systems. Geopolitical tensions throughout this year have intensified this already contentious environment, resulting in various attacks on space systems, particularly through cyber intrusion sets and radio frequency (RF) interference. The Space ISAC Watch Center, in collaboration with industry members and government partners, identifies and tracks these threats, such as significant events targeting satellites. As part of its expansion, the Space ISAC Watch Center will build a Cyber Space Data Fusion Cell, a technology buildout adding new datasets, AI/ML and other fusion tools. This expansion is aimed at enhancing the Watch Center’s capabilities to track and mitigate emerging threats in a more timely and effective manner, ensuring that the space sector remains resilient against emerging challenges.
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The Crucial Role of Collaboration Between Industry, Government and Academia
As cyber threats and geopolitical tensions continue to escalate, the collaboration between industry, government, and academia becomes increasingly vital for securing space systems. The summit effectively brought together representatives from all three sectors, enhancing information sharing and fostering collaborative solutions to secure space systems amid increasing threats and hazards. Government agencies offer practical insights, as industry contributes to regulatory frameworks, and academia advances research initiatives for the global space sector. This collaboration is essential not only for tackling challenges, but also for preparing a skilled workforce ready to navigate the complexities of the future space landscape.
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Secure by Design (SBD)
Space systems are a key enabler for critical infrastructure sectors. Given their importance to national security and resiliency, space systems are legitimate targets for cyber threats. Compounded by the highly fragmented landscape for security requirements, many commercial space companies are left to define and implement their own requirements and best practices. Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge that retroactively applying cybersecurity requirements into legacy systems that are already deployed is increasingly difficult. To combat these challenges and to keep pace with future developments in space technology, standards organizations like IEEE focus on cyber informed engineering, or designing requirements geared towards systems, subsystems, and components in a process known as Secure by Design (SBD).
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Maximum and Minimum Space Segment Requirements
The Aerospace Corporation has conducted extensive research to develop a comprehensive approach to system security engineering for space systems, aimed at addressing contemporary cybersecurity threats. Their Threat-Based Approach to cybersecurity protections for spacecraft includes the Space Attack Research and Tactic Analysis (SPARTA) matrix, which offers unclassified insights to space professionals regarding potential compromises of spacecraft due to adversarial actions throughout the attack lifecycle. Space operators can utilize the SPARTA matrix to prioritize high-risk threat vectors in their systems, define countermeasures, and map security requirements based on known tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). SPARTA is informed by input provided by the global space community and Space ISAC’s operational Watch Center.
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Industry and Academia Connection on Workforce Development
As the space sector evolves, the demand for a skilled workforce capable of addressing emerging threats and challenges becomes increasingly urgent. This underscores the importance of fostering strong relationships between educational institutions and industry leaders to develop tailored training programs, internships, and research opportunities that align with current industry needs. It is crucial to provide the right resources to adequately prepare individuals for careers in both space and cybersecurity, particularly for roles taking on the responsibility of bridging the gap between these two critical fields. Through close collaboration, industry and academia can ensure that students and professionals are well equipped to meet the demands of a rapidly changing space environment, ultimately contributing to the sector’s growth and resilience.
Explore More:
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