NASA has released its first-ever Space Security Best Practices Guide, a 57-page document that the company says would help cybersecurity for long-duration space missions.
Concerns have been developing in recent years about the risks that hackers pose to satellite networks and other projects.
In August, the FBI, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, and the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations warned that foreign intelligence facilities were taking a variety of measures, adding hacking campaigns, to infiltrate and overthrow local industry.
NASA said its new Best Practice Guide (GMP) rarely focuses only on making its own missions safer and more reliable. It also targets the cybersecurity of its foreign partners and developing industry.
The global economy is expected to grow from $469 billion in 2021 to more than $1 trillion by 2030, with the United States being the main engine of expansion this decade.
The new guide leveraged security controls set out in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Special Publication 800-53, a U.S. federal government standard designed to boost information systems security.
NASA has described the BPG as “a translation consultant between the verbiage of NIST and the language of NASA’s flight plans. “Its principles were to be achievable through any type of organization, including corporations and universities, all kinds of missions and space projects.
“This guide represents a collective effort to establish a set of principles that will enable us to identify and mitigate risks and ensure continued success of our missions, both in Earth’s orbit and beyond,” said Misty Finical, deputy principal advisor for enterprise protection at NASA.
One of the warnings in the BPG was that threat actors could exploit a mission’s ground systems to maliciously interact with the space vehicle. It was therefore important to ensure that only authenticated and authorized personnel, devices, and software could access the space mission systems.
The crew makes plans for onboard disruptions and cyberattacks affecting flight systems, as well as the option of communications jamming and identity theft attempts.
“Shared communication systems are vulnerable to interference and spoofing, resulting in loss of access (denial of service) and possible loss of integrity and availability of knowledge,” he says. -he.
“The prevalence of disruptions to communications links in RF (radio frequency) and optical bands is increasing, as is the selective impersonation of communications links. “
Fears about the dangers facing missions and infrastructure were exacerbated in February 2021 when risk actors suspected of being aligned with Russia halted Ukrainian satellite operations as Moscow invaded its neighbor.
The new BPG came about as a reaction to Space Policy Directive 5, a document published by the Trump administration that outlines a set of cybersecurity principles to protect the space sector.
NASA said it would gather feedback from the space network to incorporate into future versions of the guide.
Simon Hendery is a freelance IT consultant specializing in security, compliance, and enterprise workflows. With a background in technology journalism and marketing, he is a passionate storyteller who loves researching and sharing the latest industry developments.
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