Enemies may disrupt US satellites by hacking ground stations, Pentagon says – By David Dimolfetta (Defense One) / May 13, 2024
As commercial firms enable more of the military’s space operations, basic cybersecurity concepts become essential, says MIeke Eoyang, DASD for cyber policy.
SAN FRANCISCO — China, Russia, and other potential U.S. adversaries are showing increased interest in disrupting American space assets through cyberattacks that could cripple military communications, a top DOD cyber official said Thursday.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy Mieke Eoyang said nation-state hackers are mulling disrupting space assets “at all segments,” and emphasized ground stations that transmit data to satellites and space stations are easiest to target.
“The cybersecurity of the space systems — the ways in which the information from space flows across networks to enable traffic — is something that we’re very worried about,” she told an audience at RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Ground segment space assets like mission control centers, launch facilities and other networking equipment used for relaying data are easiest to breach because defending them from intrusions often involves basic cybersecurity concepts that many other organizations don’t deploy, Eoyang said.
