Protecting Ideas And Solutions
Click on each suggested solution for more info:
↕ Encryption and authentication methods
Encryption of the data sent to and from spacecraft may be considered the first line of defense inside a space system, allowing private communications that are only visible to others with the cryptographic key. This technique should be implemented in the private sector of satellites as well as it is in the military sector. some of the encryption techniques are:
1) Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for encrypted communication: a method of sending encryption keys using the peculiar quantum behaviors of subatomic particles, and therefore in theory is completely unhackable.
2) As we can see at Starlink, one of The most promising solutions we have learned is focusing on prevention - the ability to change and update the communication software code regularly. This solution can ensure that it will be very difficult to hack the machine because of the short "window opportunity” that attackers have to learn and hack the software, and therefore prevent it from happening. Despite the obvious benefit of this solution, it is not that simple to assimilate it. The main disadvantage is the massive costs of this kind of operation in the technological and human resources as well.
↕ Cyberattack resilience testing
Satellites need to be designed from the outset for the appropriate level of security, and systems checked for cyber resilience before launch – not once they are in orbits from which there are no plausible recovery options.
Cyberattack resilience testing is a new approach towards achieving this goal, whereby developers precisely replicate their spacecraft, ground stations, and communication networks in a realistic environment so that they can be put through malicious cyberattacks and their vulnerability assessed by cyber experts.
The company ManTech launched such a service in 2020 called Space Range. Its testers are able to find hidden vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and software bugs; giving developers the opportunity to harden their systems against cyberattacks before they are launched and put into operation.
↕ Anti-Spoofing Method
Calculated the code and carrier Doppler shift of the real signal and the spoofing signal based on the Hough transform in the pre-capture process, and completed the joint consistency check process of the code and carrier Doppler shift. The real signal and the spoofing signal are distinguished from the satellite signal. And then real signal parameters are transmitted to the receiver tracking loop.
↕ Detection and prevention
Because of the increase in Satellite utilities in all aspects of our life, we believe that it is important to create a worldwide database - a catalog of known security threats for those kinds of attacks. This database should include information about vulnerabilities, and satellite cyber attack reports to share the knowledge and increase the Records to communicate consistent descriptions of vulnerabilities.
↕ Security Operations Center
The role of Security Operations Center (SOC) is protecting the organization's assets, including intellectual property, personnel data, business systems and brand integrity, through constantly monitoring, preventing and responding to emerging cyberthreats around the clock.
SOC teams should actively and constantly monitor and prevent cyber attacks, gather intelligence about possible threat actors, and constantly work on identifying and patching vulnerabilities.
In order to mitigate and prevent cyber attacks, it’s crucial to test for vulnerabilities and perform penetration testing from the earliest stages, starting from the satellite production and manufacturing.
The SOC team implements the organization's overall cyber security strategy and acts as a key point of cooperation in coordinated efforts to monitor, evaluate and protect against cyber attacks. Due to the increasing threats against satellite communications, it recommended to establish an in-house SOC team for greater protection against current and future threats.
↕ Software updates
As we saw in the example, The ability of Starlink to update their software multiple times a day is what's been preventing Starlink from going down and still be there. we suggest to the companies and organization to do so, to reduce the hacking capability of potential of potencial threats to the network.
↕ Frequencies hanging
Man in the middle is hard to prevent, especially in the long range satellite - ground station communication. therefore, changing frequencies once in a while can give an advantage to the organization - in case where someone managed to “be in the middle” - changing the frequencies will get him out of the segment circle, and he will have to try and get in from the beginning. Moreover, it can make it difficult to detect the frequency which the satellite is transmitting - since the frequencies is changing once in a while.
↕ Different modem transmitting
Using TDM (Time-DivisionMultiplexing) modulation. In this solution, you can have more than one transmitting modem in the satellite transmission center. The key here is a Hub, who centers the modems and instruct them who transmit and when. The entire collections of the modems are able to divide the data between them and so on every modem have the data and will be able to transmit it if the Hub says so.