As space becomes increasingly commercialized, cybercriminals will begin to take note, experts warn.
As private companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic break new ground with fully crewed spaceflights, commercial space travel is beginning to feel less and less like fantasy. For the time being, space exploration is reserved for scientists, engineers and billionaires, but it’s likely only a matter of time before advances in technology begin to democratize access. And the beneficiaries will include businesses, as well as intrepid tourists. It’s all too easy, however, to be seduced by the possibilities of space and lose sight of the multitude of risks. For example, a new report from security company Kaspersky asserts that the threat posed by cyberattacks against space infrastructure is in danger of being overlooked. Although the threat level remains relatively low for now, the report predicts the volume of attacks against space infrastructure is set to skyrocket, with potentially catastrophic consequences. “In every new domain, people focus on the availability of a service before security. Space exploration is in that phase at the moment; there are a lot of systems with basic or no security,” explained Maher Yamout, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky. “Maybe people think there is no risk for space stations and sensors, because they are ‘out of reach’, but attacks are already taking place.” The report divides space infrastructure into three categories – the user segment, ground segment and space layer – all of which are vulnerable to attack in their own specific ways. The user segment is made up of the devices and networks used by administrators to monitor technologies deployed in space. The role of the ground segment, meanwhile, is to receive communications from the satellites and craft in the space layer, as well as to deliver instruction. Already, intrusions have been identified that affect each of these layers. For example, in 2019, NASA discovered a threat actor had successfully compromised its network and deployed a hardware backdoor (in the form of a Raspberry Pi) to steal sensitive information.
