Una carrera espacial est\u00e1 en marcha. La fiebre espacial dar\u00e1 como resultado decenas de miles de nuevos activos lanzados dentro de la d\u00e9cada, muchos con 5G, lo que crear\u00e1 un frente de ataque cibern\u00e9tico muy grande. El creciente inter\u00e9s en el espacio, que alguna vez fue el dominio limitado de los estados-naci\u00f3n, est\u00e1 creciendo para incluir sectores comerciales florecientes en pa\u00edses como Estados Unidos y Corea del Sur. Dos multimillonarios fueron noticia el mes pasado por sus viajes al espacio en naves comerciales, y algunas empresas ya han enviado naves comerciales a la Estaci\u00f3n Espacial Internacional. La ciberseguridad y la resiliencia, o la falta de ellas, es lo que preocupa.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON: A space race is afoot, and in this brave new interstellar world, experts say concerns remain about the cybersecurity and resiliency \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 for constellations of space-based assets and the global networks they enable. And with global investment in space exploding, the issue is not going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen change over the past four years like I haven\u2019t seen over the past 36 years,\u201d Kevin Bell, senior vice president of the Space Systems Group at The Aerospace Corporation and a former Air Force pilot, said last week at an event organized by Booz Allen Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Space-based systems proliferation is being driven, as well as enabled, by new tech, ranging from ships and satellites to 5G. The US military will rely on space assets as nodes in global networks to enable its\u00a0Joint Warfighting Concept<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0All Domain Operations<\/a>. In addition to defense and intelligence applications, space increasingly factors into vast swaths of global economies \u2014 shaping sectors ranging from transportation to agriculture \u2014 in turn making space progressively more of an economic security issue.<\/p>\n The increasing interest in space \u2014 once the limited domain of nation-states \u2014 is growing to include burgeoning commercial sectors in countries like the US and South Korea. Two billionaires made news last month for their trips to space on commercial ships, and some companies have already sent commercial ships to the International Space Station. Several companies are reportedly exploring space tourism, including one entity that recently announced\u00a0the first space hotel will open in 2027<\/a>. Rising commercial ventures into space will complicate military and intelligence space operations.<\/p>\n The space rush will result in tens of thousands of new assets launched within the decade, many running 5G, which will create a \u201ctruly enormous\u201d cyber attack surface, said Sam Visner, a technical fellow at the MITRE Corporation and former associate at the\u00a0Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center<\/a>, which focuses on\u00a0cybersecurity of space networks and assets<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the past, governments were the sole owners and operators of space assets and networks. And while those proved to be \u201crobust systems,\u201d Visner said, many still orbiting earth were largely designed, developed, and tested in an age that \u201cpredated cyber threats.\u201d<\/p>\n Those legacy assets, which are nodes in space-based and space-to-terrestrial communications, serve as potential network entry points, much as endpoints (e.g., devices, servers, etc.) do in traditional IT networks. Given enough time and resources, as well as the right capabilities and the proper environment, adversaries could start network compromises by targeting space assets.<\/p>\n Kevin Coggins, a vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, highlighted the issue: \u201cThe architectures of government systems are inherently trusting,\u201d he observed. \u201cIf we continue to have these open, trusted links, we\u2019re going to be constantly fighting [the] next threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Coggins suggested the space industry look at ways of implementing\u00a0zero-trust architectures<\/a>\u00a0the same way this security model is being deployed in traditional, terrestrial IT networks. Visner agreed and said the US has to look at bringing zero-trust architectures to space-enabled networks. Zero-trust models rest on\u00a0a foundational principle<\/a>\u00a0of identifying and authenticating every user and every node per every connection on a network \u2014 and denying access by default.<\/p>\n Visner said this is where artificial intelligence and machine learning could help in the future. \u201cAI can be used to detect anomalous behavior in networks,\u201d he observed, in turn allowing adjustments to defenses and networks \u201cdynamically.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAI can do all of that and more,\u201d but he cautioned, \u201cThis will get harder to do as networks grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Another challenge is the \u201chighly commoditized\u201d and globalized space\u00a0supply chain<\/a>, which limits US visibility and control, Visner said. His comment echoes\u00a0a recent congressional report issued by the Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force<\/a>, which also highlighted limited supply chain visibility as a major challenge for the DoD and defense industrial base.<\/p>\n The panel\u2019s wide-ranging discussion also touched on DoD space-related acquisition reform, the prospect of pushing more compute power to the edge, and the role of US allies and partners in bolstering space defense.<\/p>\n \u201cSpace is in everything, and we are getting more and more dependent on space,\u201d Coggins said. Resiliency and cybersecurity in space, he said, directly tie into the many economic and national security benefits space-based systems support.<\/p>\n