A key problem for the Area Power is find out how to assess cyber safety dangers, mentioned Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting
WASHINGTON — Satellite tv for pc operators are coping with the fact that the bottom programs and community tools used to function area programs present many entry factors for cyber attackers. Cyber and malware assaults might be pulled off at a comparatively low value, making these kinds of weapons much more accessible than missiles or lasers.
This is a matter of rising concern for the U.S. Area Power, mentioned Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of Area Operations Command.
A key problem for the Area Power is find out how to assess cyber safety dangers, Whiting mentioned July 7 on the Area Coverage Present, hosted by the Aerospace Corp.
“That’s been on my thoughts lately: cyber safety and the way we measure danger within the cyber area,” mentioned Whiting, who has described the cyber area because the “delicate underbelly of our international area networks.”
“It’s an actual subject and it’s a problem that we’ve requested for and gotten some assist from the coverage neighborhood,” he mentioned.
The navy is extra comfy coping with bodily safety threats whereas cybersecurity is a special drawback that requires a nontraditional method, he famous.
“At Peterson Area Power Base [Colorado] we now have a fence round our set up, we now have armed safety forces members who’re nicely educated on find out how to defend this set up,” Whiting mentioned. “Now we have safety cameras, we now have safety alarms, all of that coming collectively. We’re fairly comfy understanding what our safety posture is relative to the risk outdoors the gate, primarily based on intelligence and legislation enforcement.”
Now distinction that with cybersecurity, he mentioned, “the place we all know there are nations which might be making an attempt to probe us in cyber, what we name superior, persistent risk actors. We don’t have the same really feel for find out how to measure our danger in cyber.”
The Area Power is now wanting so as to add extra squadrons of cyber specialists to assist navy models that function communications, surveillance and navigation satellites. “We’ve invested in cyber defenses,” mentioned Whiting. “Now we have a cyber workforce who is considering defensive cyber.” The problem is “how do you measure that cyber danger in a method you could make a decision on whether or not I’m comfy with my danger posture?”
Russia’s techniques in Ukraine, the place hackers had been making an attempt to penetrate Ukraine’s communications satellite tv for pc infrastructure forward of the February invasion, are seen as a playbook for the way cyber weapons might be utilized in different conflicts.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported jamming of Starlink communications close to Ukrainian battle areas. And hackers infiltrated Viasat’s KA-SAT satellite tv for pc web community, disabling modems that supplied hundreds of consumers in Ukraine and close by nations with web hyperlinks.
