The US National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the FBI, and the US Air Force have issued a joint advisory warning that foreign intelligence entities (FIEs) now regard US space-related innovation and assets as valuable opportunities to acquire vital technologies and expertise.
Cause for concern, especially when it comes to suppliers
The catalyst for the advisory to be issued now is the recent proliferation of supply-chain attacks across all sectors of the US industry, including space organizations. Now that many organizations, particularly those connected with the US space industry, have made substantial investments in securing their cyber perimeters, cybercriminal groups have been searching relentlessly for entry points outside the target organization, and they have found them in the supply chain.
While most well-secured organizations try to vet their main suppliers’ and contractors’ security arrangements thoroughly, this is less true for the thousands of minor suppliers such as software providers, downloaded apps, etc. And, of course, the contractors all have their own supply chains, making 100 percent cybersecurity a genuine impossibility.
The US is outspending the competition by a large margin
But the cybersecurity stakes are high for the US, which has spent roughly $133 billion since 2013 on its space industry according to Space Capital, well ahead of China, the second largest investor, which has spent $79 billion in the same period. The current space race is expected to gain momentum in the 21st Century, with the global space economy predicted to be worth an estimated $1 trillion by 2030.
Focus on cyber defenses is critical to maintaining the American lead
To keep its lead, the US must ensure top-level security to prevent crucial data from being stolen by competing hostile nations such as China, Russia, and Iran. The top threats identified by the US authorities include intellectual property theft of vital data, disrupting and degrading US satellite communications, and exploiting vulnerabilities in US space infrastructure during future potential conflicts.
According to the advisory, unnamed foreign intelligence entities already: “use cyberattacks, strategic investment (including joint ventures and acquisitions), the targeting of key supply chain nodes, and other techniques to gain access to the US space industry.”
The advisory suggests several steps US space organizations should take immediately, including fostering an “enterprise-wide security posture,” keeping an anomaly log of peculiar or potentially malicious incidents, establishing an insider threat program, and carrying out “robust due diligence” on their supply chain suppliers.
