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Government CIO Outlook | Friday, February 21, 2020
Several companies are vigorously competing to put thousands of small, inexpensive satellites in orbit, but the main hurdle is to keep the cost low, and the lack in regulation is making those satellites vulnerable to hackers.
Fremont, CA: With companies becoming the operator of the world’s most prominent active satellite constellation with 242 satellites orbiting the planet, they plan to launch more 42,000 in the next decade. This is a substantial part of an ambitious project of making the internet accessible to everyone around the world. These new satellites have the potential to alter many aspects of everyday life, like bringing internet access to the remote corners of the world to monitoring the environment and improving the global navigation systems. In between all the positive aspects, a critical danger has flown under the radar, which is a lack of cybersecurity standards and regulations for commercial satellites. If hackers get a hand on these satellites, then the consequences can be fatal. They can just shut down the satellites, deny access to their services, jam or spoof the signals, and create havoc for the critical infrastructure.
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Off-the-shelf technology is used in the making of these satellites to keep the cost low. The easy availability of these components indicates that hackers can quickly analyze them for vulnerabilities. Additionally, most of the components draw on open-source technology, and the primary danger here is that the hackers can even insert back doors and various vulnerabilities into the software of the satellites.
The satellites are highly technical, which means that numerous manufacturers are involved in building the various components. The procedure in which these satellites are sent into space is also very complicated and involves many companies. With every new vendor in the process, the vulnerabilities increase and provide the hackers with multiple opportunities to infiltrate the system.
The companies are struggling to compete with each other and be the dominant satellite operator for which they are trying hard to cut the costs. There is even pressure to fast-track the development and production of these satellites. Therefore the companies are tempted to cut costs in areas such as cybersecurity, which are secondary compared to actually getting these satellites in space.
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