Cybersecurity

Russia is responsible for cyber attacks against commercial satellite communications networks in late February to disrupt Ukraine’s command and control efforts at the outset of Russia’s invasion of the country, the U.S. government and European Union (EU) said on Tuesday. The cyber attack also impacted other countries in Europe by disabling very small aperture terminals...

Inmarsat is launching a new service designed to provide greater cyber protection to its maritime customers. The product, Fleet Secure Unified Threat Management (UTM), is a standard option on its Fleet Xpress service to protect vessel networks against cyberattacks. Inmarsat announced the product April 25. Fleet Secure UTM completes a portfolio of Inmarsat cyber security...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking comments on a cybersecurity framework for satellite ground systems in positioning, timing, and navigation (PNT) systems.  The draft document “Satellite Ground Segment: Applying the Cybersecurity Framework to Assure Satellite Command and Control,” was released on Monday. It was authored by Suzanne Lightman of NIST, and...

Space systems face growing security threats, as evidenced by Viasat’s recent security incident. On April 6 in Paris, speakers at CySat, a European event dedicated to cybersecurity for the space industry, discussed how the industry can mitigate such threats. Although the type of attack Viasat experienced is not new, it could be considered a wake...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As the space industry continues to launch satellites at an increasingly rapid pace, both the commercial industry and U.S. Department of Defense are working toward a proliferated architecture across multiple orbits, in which data can be captured and transported through space more rapidly and with greater security.  The amount of data...

Viasat believes the cyberattack on its KA-SAT network last month that affected modems across Ukraine and Europe was “deliberate” and intended to interrupt service, the company said in a report on the attack issued Wednesday.  Viasat characterized the cyberattack on Feb. 24 as “multifaceted and deliberate.” It caused a partial interruption of KA-SAT’s consumer satellite...

Lockheed Martin is partnering with SpiderOak Mission Systems to develop and test a zero-trust cybersecurity platform for the space data supply chain. The companies announced an agreement on Tuesday to field key components of the SpiderOak OrbitSecure platform. OrbitSecure is a software solution for ground and space platforms to secure all data types over untrusted...

Viasat is investigating a partial network outage on its European KA-SAT network that may be the result of a cyber event, the company confirmed to Via Satellite in a statement on Monday.  Viasat said the network outage is impacting internet service for fixed broadband customers in Ukraine and elsewhere. At this time, the satellite operator...

Two U.S. senators on Wednesday introduced legislation that would require the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to provide cybersecurity resources to commercial satellite owners and operators. Senators Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced the legislation, called the Satellite Cybersecurity Act.  According to Peters...

When Russia launched a missile to destroy one of their own satellites in November 2021, it left behind 1,500 trackable pieces, plus thousands that were too small to detect. This irresponsible action leaves a debris field that’s hazardous to space navigation in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), likely for decades. It also sends a collective shudder through...