Our need
for more data, information, and these in a timely manner have driven research through
the years. Many years ago, this was accomplished through ye olde snail mail,
with the 5 ¼ or 3 ½ discs/disks. Later this advanced with the thumb drives. The
downloads over modem took forever, and you hoped there was not an issue with
the phone line, otherwise you may need to start over. The internet and
infrastructure sped downloads speeds to incredible rates by comparison. The
advances continue not only with internet speeds, but also other transmission
methods. With the global economy and data requirements, satellites are a new
focus. One area, in addition to communications, the satellites are used for is
GPS. This is used with vehicles, ships, airplanes, commercial trucking, military,
and any other industry moving freight or people. There are few industries not
using this technology in one form or another. The satellite technology has
provided for increased economic productivity and better user experience for the
various use cases. An example is GPS used in our smartphones and vehicles.
Gone are the days with the huge fold-out maps or purchasing a CD with maps and
printing off the route.
While
the benefits are clear, there is also an area not addressed fully. The
cybersecurity with the systems required further attention. Just as with other electronics,
this can be attacked. These aren’t theoretical forms of attack. These have been
shown to work. In 2019, software used by satellites (VxWorks) was shown to have
vulnerabilities to be exploited. When executed, the attacker could take control
of the satellite from anywhere. In certain instances, the software is
proprietary, which would shift the attack to alternative areas on the attack
surface. With the increase in the number of satellites, this is going to continue
to be an issue. It would be an understatement to state these need to be tested
and use the current industry standard cybersecurity measures.
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