Certified space security specialists (CSSP) headline occupations in serious demand.
And no wonder. The space industry is a complex system of moving parts, changing dynamics and developing ideas. Being able to manipulate such remote objects as satellites provides a new challenge to the hacking community.
Scarce documentation and source code provide the ultimate “black box” challenge. Combined with the “security through obscurity” mentality with which vendors develop these products, major vulnerabilities in satellite systems are being discovered.
The security analysis of satellite user terminals brought to light numerous vendor’s use of hard-coded credentials, insecure protocols and weak authentication mechanisms.
This ageing mentality is not suitable for systems making use of cyber technologies, especially those which support critical infrastructure which are piquing the interest of the hacking community.
The space industry has been the victim of several attacks since its inception from a wide range of adversaries and for a multitude of reasons.
Compromising the ground station is ultimately the easiest way to control a satellite as it provides the equipment and software required to legitimately control and track it, and it uses existing and established terrestrial systems and attack vectors.
The types of threats are generally the same during a satellite’s life cycle. Types of attacks can include:
- Physical attacks
- Computer network exploitation (CNE)
- Cloud infrastructure
- Data corruption/modification
- Supply chain attacks
- Unpatched/Outdated/Legacy COTS software attacks
Want to know more? Tonex offers Certified Space Security Specialist Professional (CSSSP) training, a 4-day course that is ideal for space and security practitioners, analysts, engineers, managers and executives interested in proving their knowledge across space security practices and principles.
Our Space Operations and Cybersecurity courses also include:
Fundamentals of Positioning, Navigation and Timing | PNT Training (2 days)
Space Mission Systems Engineering Training (2 days)
Space Systems Engineering Fundamentals (2 days)
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.