Cyber-Space: Satellites and Cyber-Warfare

Cyber-Space: Satellites and Cyber-Warfare

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

10657712_m featureThe proliferation of cyberthreats to communication networks has presented satellite operators with new challenges in protecting customer data against threats.

According to Aviation Week security experts say advanced satellite technologies should help operators stay ahead of the rapidly evolving attack technology, even as hybrid systems that link traditional satellite networks and ground-based systems for end-to-end data delivery create new vulnerabilities.

Satellite operators have long had techniques for protecting their signals from unintentional interference and deliberate jamming, and have generally turned a blind eye to government ground stations such as those in Sugar Grove, W.Va., that capture telecom signals flowing to nearby commercial satellite antennas.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Intelsat, which is more open, conducted the latest in a series of press briefings on the general subject at the Satellite 2014 trade show in Washington last week. While avoiding citing specifics of security techniques for obvious reasons, the company’s top officials outlined its general approach to protecting customer data.

Publicity about denial-of-service hacker attacks that attempt to overwhelm Internet circuits with terabytes of data, criminal enterprises that use fraud to scoop up electronic funds moving on the Internet, and state-sponsored entities that seek government and commercial intelligence via clandestine cyber eavesdropping have brought the issue into the open, they say.