As space becomes warfare domain, cyber is on the frontlines

Space is becoming a domain of warfare, with private sector companies on the front lines – and the first shots will likely be fired in cyberspace, a senior U.S. intelligence official warned this month.

“Cybersecurity for space systems is very likely to be on the front lines of conflict involving space,” said Johnathon Martin, acting deputy director of the Office of the Chief Architect at the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds, launches and operates U.S. spy satellites.

Physical attacks are always a possibility, but their potential for spiraling out of attackers’ control via the dreaded Kessler effect – a situation in which space collisions produce more debris that provoke more collisions – means cyberattacks are the more likely space weapon, Martin said. That would be especially true of the early stages of a conflict, he said in a keynote address at the annual CyberSat conference in Reston, Virginia.

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