Abstract
Developments in technologies, attitudes and investment are transforming the space environment, achieving greater accessibility for an increasing number of parties. New and proposed constellations will increase the in-orbit satellite population by the order of thousands, expanding the threat landscape of the space industry. This article analyses past satellite security threats and incidents to assess the motivations and characteristics of adversarial threats to satellites. The ground and radio frequency communications were the most favoured targets; however, the boom of satellites constellations in the upcoming years may shift this focus towards the space segment which must be addressed. Key technology advancements and open issues in the satellite industry related to security and operational requirements are also discussed.
Highlights
The space industry is a complex system of moving parts, changing dynamics and developing ideas
These data are centrally processed by systems in the cloud, and access to imagery data is regulated by Planet and distributed through web application program interfaces (APIs) and browser-based applications [15]
For satellite and ground systems, this channel is an radio frequency (RF) signal sent over the air, meaning that all communications are susceptible to interception
Summary
The space industry is a complex system of moving parts, changing dynamics and developing ideas. Since this time, the boom of the consumer microelectronics industry, more rapid research and development practices and the lower costs of launch means that space is viewed as a highly valued resource for business. The security analysis of satellite user terminals in [9,10] 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.
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