When one thinks of hygiene, they might think of soaps, deodorants, and shampoos to maintain the natural health of one’s body’s ecosystem.  The same metaphors can be used to describe the same products and care cyber professionals use to protect space assets.  Anti-virus/anti-malware, endpoint protection and endpoint detection are some of the tools being used to help clean and keep clean the space ecosystem environment from satellite development to satellite operations centers.  In the rare event something does happen, using these tools and practicing good cyber hygiene can limit the effects caused from cyber intrusions.  Torstein George champions in his article “Ransomware Attacks: Don’t Let Your Guard Down” for these assets as well as scanning and monitoring for data on systems that would be of value to cyber criminals (George 2023).

Your most sensitive data should be behind the toughest security barriers.  With multiple users and customers logging into systems, moving, and copying data around, there could be spillage, a term used for when sensitive data formerly contained on high side systems makes it way onto lower, less protected systems.  This data can then become more vulnerable to cyber criminals in the event of an intrusion. Assets like crypto keys, command and control software, and other sensitive satellite material should have more stringent protection protocol like user training and monitoring to minimize risk from cyber criminals.  Good cyber hygiene, when applied regularly (like soap…) helps keep the cyber environment clean!

Works Cited

George, Torsten. 2023. “Ransomware Attacks: Don’t Let Your Guard Down.” Security Week. March 1. Accessed March 1, 2023. https://www.securityweek.com/ransomware-attacks-dont-let-your-guard-down/.