At the Air, Space & Cyber conference Major General Douglas Schiess announced that the United States Space Force is Space Operations Command is assigning cybersecurity and intelligence specialists to work along with satellite operators to better prepare us to protect U.S. systems from electronic and physical threats. The Space Operations Command at Peterson Space Force Base already has squadrons of cyber specialists that support the operation of military satellites. A directive from the Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to harden space systems against cyber attacks more cyber specialists are going to be added to teams that operate critical satellite systems. The most recent addition was a cyber squadron to Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite operation team.

The direction the Space Force is going with cybersecurity is encouraging. When you see two satellite operators that took different levels of scrutiny to their cyber posture you can clearly see why taking a proactive stance towards cybersecurity is important. ViaSat had a major hack by Russia that destroyed critical infrastructure preventing critical communication in Europe. In contrast the Starlink attack that was unsuccessful showed that taking cybersecurity more seriously can protect the critical space infrastructure form malicious intent. If the U.S. Space Force continues to put an emphasis on protecting our space assets from cyber attacks adversaries will have a harder time causing harm.

Erwin, S. (2022, September 19). Space Force shifting resources to intelligence and cybersecurity. Retrieved from SpaceNews: https://spacenews.com/space-force-shifting-resources-to-intelligence-and-cybersecurity/