Threats to U.S. Space Systems Multiply Rapidly; a Novel Approach Emerges For Protection

The increasing vulnerability of U.S. space systems lately has incited its rivals to begin with their development of mechanisms for disabling space assets as a method of ‘hobbling the joint force’ and subverting the economic performance of the nation.

The purpose of this progression is the dependence of America’s military forces which are spread across the world for communications, navigation, reconnaissance, and weather forecasts and that the most critical infrastructure sectors in the U.S. economy depend on space frameworks for fundamental administrations.

As of late certain reports from intelligence agencies indicate that enemies have now started focusing not only on satellites, but also on the ground stations that control them, the links between the satellites and the stations, and the ability of the users to access certain services, like the Global Positioning System.

The reports depict various ways in which the U.S. space capabilities may be debased, from electronic jamming of signs to high-power lasers that visually impair sensors to physical attacks on control centers.

It is clearly evident that the dangers to the U.S. space system are increasing consistently, and cyber-attacks offer the broadest exhibit of alternatives to the greatest grouping of troublemakers. 

Against that background, just the previous month a national-security contractor ManTech, came up with a ‘novel approach’ to deal with protecting military, intelligent, and commercial space assets against cyber-attacks.

Dubbed as Space Range, and it permits users to ‘replicate’ space networks in a controlled environment with the goal that their vulnerability to cyber aggression can be evaluated. The $2 billion company headquartered in Northern Virginia, has been doing this kind of work for quite a while. It had created the defense department’s first cyber test range in 2009, and three years ago even launched an Advanced Cyber Range Environment.

Space Range, which began on May 4, is unique in the sense that it permits profoundly talented cyber experts to attacks exact replicas of satellites, ground stations, uplinks/downlinks, and so forth in a hyper-realistic environment that is air-gapped from the outside world.

As a company press release puts it that gives players the “ability to find hidden vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and software bugs on precise network replications.” The entire framework depends on a software-defined infrastructure model that can be reconfigured in hours as opposed to weeks.

That good news when time and money of the users is concerned, however, the most significant feature of Space Range is that it offers engineers and operators a protected and legitimate setting where to practically investigate the ‘hardening’ of their overhead resources against cyber-attack.

Nevertheless, with space quickly turning into a field of extraordinary competition, there isn’t a lot of uncertainty that the Pentagon’s recently introduced Space Force will be ‘robustly funded’ going ahead.

ManTech’s Space Range will in no time, probably transform into a significant tool in assisting the government and industry to figure out where training and hardening outlays should be concentrated.