For space systems such as GPS Hacked and offlineMost of the world would immediately revert to 1950s communications and navigation technology, but in a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, space cybersecurity is largely invisible to the public.
Cyber attacks on satellites Occurring since the 1980sBut the global alarm bells were sounded just a few years ago. On February 24, 2022, an hour before Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian government agents Viasat’s satellite internet service has been hacked. Block communications and create chaos within Ukraine.
me Studying ethics and new technologies And serve as ~ torture To the National Space Commission of the United States. My colleagues and I at California Polytechnic State University Ethics + Emerging Science Group Released National Science Foundation Funding Report June 17, 2024, to address the issue of cyber attacks in space. It helps us anticipate new and surprising scenarios..
The Universe and You
Most people don’t know that. The important role played by space systemsIn everyday life, let alone military conflicts, for example, GPS uses signals from satellites.. GPS support Precision Timing It is essential in financial services where every detail (e.g. payment or withdrawal time) must be faithfully captured and coordinated. Even mobile phone calls depend on accurate time coordination in the network.
In addition to navigation for airplanes, boats, cars and people, GPS is also important for coordination. Truck fleet We deliver goods to local stores daily.
Earth observation satellite It is the “eye in the sky” with a unique perspective that predicts weather, monitors environmental changes, tracks and responds to natural disasters, increases crop yields, manages land and water use, and monitors troop movements. The loss of these and other space services could be devastating to people vulnerable to natural disasters and crop failures. It could also put the global economy and security at serious risk.
Elements of play
In our report we: We identified several factors It contributes to the growing threat of space cyberattacks. For example, it is important to recognize that the world is still in its infancy. The new space race.
By all accounts, the space It’s getting more crowded And it’s even more controversial. For both governments and private companies, Lack of regulation And now I own it Most satellites In orbit and ready compete for resources and Research site.
Space is so remote and inaccessible that anyone who wants to attack a space system would most likely have to use a cyber attack. Space systems are particularly attractive targets because the hardware cannot be easily upgraded after launch, Anxiety gets worse over time. As a complex system, it may have the following characteristics: long supply chainAnd the more links in the chain, the greater the potential for vulnerabilities. Even major space projects face the challenge of following best practices. More than 10 years It took a while to build this.
And in space, the stakes are unusually high. Orbital debris moves at speeds of six to nine miles per second. Destroy the spaceship easily About the shock. It could also end the hypothetical space program worldwide. Kessler syndrome The Earth will eventually be caught in a cocoon of debris. This outcome makes space cyberattacks preferable to physical attacks, as the debris problem is more likely to affect the attackers as well.
Also, given Critical space infrastructure Services like GPS and conflicts in space can trigger or exacerbate conflicts on Earth, and so can conflicts in cyberspace. For example, Russia could hack one of its satellites in 2022. be taken as a declaration of warThis was a dramatic expansion from previous years. Norms on War.
Magic Scenario
Even security professionals who recognize the seriousness of this space cybersecurity threat face great difficulties. At least in non-secret forums, only a few unspecified scenarios are generally considered. Vague details about satellite hacking and vague details about signals. Jamming or spoofing.
However, failing to envision every possibility can be fatal to your security plan, especially when it comes to hackers. A diverse set of entities They have different motivations and goals. It is important to determine these variables because they provide clues to the strategies and levers that defenders may find most effective in responding. For example, a nation-state-sponsored hacker attack may be more effective than a criminal hacker who is after money. Chaos Agent.
To help with this part of the security puzzle, our report provides a taxonomy. Icarus Matrix– It can capture these variables and generate over 4 million unique combinations of variables, which are called scenario prompts. ICARUS is an acronym for “imagining cyber attacks to anticipate unique risks in space.”
Of the 42 scenarios included in the report, three are:
3D or additive printers can be a valuable resource for quickly producing parts on demand for space missions. Hackers could access the printers on a space station and reprogram them to create small defects inside the parts they print. Some of the components designed to have these failures could be part of critical systems.
Hackers can corrupt data from planetary probes to show inaccurate atmospheric, temperature, or water quality measurements. For example, corrupted data from a Mars probe could falsely show that there is significant underground water ice in the area. Subsequent missions launched to further explore the area would be wasted.
In 1938 Radio Drama The story of an alien attack caused panic when many listeners did not realize it was fiction. Likewise, hackers have access to the listening feed of Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence. MethiProject and insert something that sounds like an alien language into METI’s manuscript. Then leak it to the media, causing a worldwide panic and moving the financial markets.
The report covers scenarios such as insider threats, AI vulnerabilities, false flag attacks, eco-terrorism, ransomware during launch, and more distant future scenarios of asteroid mining, space colonies, and space pirates.
Stories for better security
People Hardwired to respond to storiesWhether shared around a prehistoric campfire or on today’s digital platforms, creating new and surprising scenarios can bring to life the invisible threat of space cyberattacks and highlight the nuances of different scenarios. Interdisciplinary expert Let’s solve it together.
Patrick Lin Professor of Philosophy at California Polytechnic State University. This article was republished from conversation ~Below Creative Commons License. read Original article.
