Terra Calling: Defending and Securing the Space Economy

From Science to Fiction and Back to Reality

Author(s): Stefan Soesanto
Editor(s): Jakob Bund
Series: CSS Cyberdefense Reports
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich
Publication Year: 2021

This report aims to provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental cybersecurity and -defense challenges pertaining to the space economy. It outlines the broad contours of what constitutes the space economy and takes a closer look at the problems on the terrestrial surface, space-based assets, and the area of up- and downlinks. Furthermore, this report dives into two case studies pertaining to NASA and the European global navigation satellite system Galileo, and disentangles the cyber threat landscape by examining public reporting on the most referenced satellite hacking incidents in terms of its veracity and fact-based representation. Finally, it provides several recommendations for the Swiss government and a brief horizon scan highlighting three future trends.

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