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Space Government Security United States

Trump Administration Issues Directive Aimed At Enhancing Cybersecurity In Space (theverge.com) 42

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Today, the Trump administration released its fifth Space Policy Directive, this one designed to come up with a list of best practices for the space industry on how to protect their spacecraft from cyber threats. The goal is to encourage the government and space industry to create their space vehicles with cybersecurity plans in place, incorporating tools like encryption software and other protections when designing, building, and operating their vehicles. [...] To combat these threats, Space Policy Directive 5 lays out guidelines that companies should try to adhere to as they launch satellites and other vehicles to space. The administration is recommending operators use various types of software to ensure that the data they receive from their spacecraft is encrypted. The directive also encourages companies to use trusted supply chains and oversee the safety of their ground systems -- the facilities they use to send signals and retrieve data from their spacecraft. The report also recommends protecting against jamming and spoofing of satellites. "Sometimes the jamming can be fairly crude; other cases, some of the spoofing can be fairly sophisticated if somebody's trying to get on board," one official said. "So there's a whole range of things that you need to look at kind of end-to-end."

Ultimately, the directive says that government agencies should work with commercial companies to further refine what these best cybersecurity practices should be, especially since many in the space industry already implement these strategies when building and launching vehicles. [...] SPD-5 is the latest policy directive from the Trump administration designed to shape the U.S. space agenda. Trump's first directive instructed NASA to send humans back to the Moon, while other directives have focused on coming up with a way to oversee space traffic and streamlining regulations for space licenses.

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Trump Administration Issues Directive Aimed At Enhancing Cybersecurity In Space

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  • by fermion ( 181285 ) on Saturday September 05, 2020 @12:00AM (#60475542) Homepage Journal
    But a lot of data coming from these satellites needs to open and public. And satellites need to be as simple and hardened as they can, even at the expense of other concerns.

    The fallacy of this space defense thing is that there is really no defense of space resources other than gentlemen's agreements. And the US is blatantly jeopardizing those agreement believing we have so magical structure that will protect us. It is the strategic defense initiative fantasy all over again, ignoring reality. The reality back then was that UUSR has the biggest baddest nuclear bombs, and all that needed to happen is that they be weaponized.

    The reality today is that Russia presumably still has the biggest baddest nuclear bombs and they don't need to weaponized beyond the state they were in 50 years ago. All that needs to happen is the US start testing live nuclear weapons, as has been seriously discussed. Any live tests will lead to a escalation of the building of nuclear weapons as we saw long ago, and will lead to above ground testing at some point.

    And that point will be when some power, maybe Kim in Korea, decides they don't need to destroy land, just take out all the satellites. In 1962 a small 1.4 megaton test took out two satellites. Just think of how many would be taken out today. Right now N Korea poses limited threat to the US as it can barely launch 300 kilotons the 13,000 kilometers needed to reach California. But what if they all they had to do was explode it when it was ballistic and take out all our satellites?

    • The fallacy of this space defense thing is that there is really no defense of space resources other than gentlemen's agreements?

      From the point of view of actual government to government issues you are right, but things are changing and that's no longer enough. Medium sized organised crime groups already start to have serious IT and security capabilities. Given a few million pounds you can likely set up a ground station and try to take control of a satellite for your own aims. If you hack someone else's ground station, you can probably do this for a few tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds, which is in reach of a whole bunch of

    • Nuclear bombs are obsolete. With precision guided munitions, there is no reason to have old fashioned nuclear bombs. You don't need to swat a fly with an expensive sledge hammer.
      • by Jamu ( 852752 )
        Yep. You'll miss the fly and trash your appartment instead. Which is basically what nukes do.
      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Nuclear bombs are obsolete if you are big nation with many other capabilities. If you are a tiny nation (Iran, N. Korea, Israel, Pakistan, and soon others), then suddenly nukes become an equalizer. Precision guided munitions are meaningless because one has air superiority to deliver them.

      • Nuclear bombs are not obsolete because their primary purpose is to be scary, and they are still scary.

      • by fermion ( 181285 )
        Nuclear bombs are obsolete for blowing things up. You donâ(TM)t need to blow up a space hardware, you just need to damage it as we donâ(TM)t do repairs in space. As 1962 shows, an EMP is good enough.
      • In space? Yes, there is still call for EMP destruction weapons with great range
    • ... used from a scarcity mindset. From something I wrote in 2010: https://pdfernhout.net/recogni... [pdfernhout.net]
      ====
      Recognizing irony is key to transcending militarism

      Military robots like drones are ironic because they are created essentially to force humans to work like robots in an industrialized social order. Why not just create industrial robots to do the work instead?

      Nuclear weapons are ironic because they are about using space age systems to fight over oil and land. Why not just use advanced materials as found in

  • Trump will have to check with Putin to make sure it's okay, before proceeding.
    • Trump will have to check with Putin to make sure it's okay, before proceeding.

      You're wrong. He already did.

  • by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Saturday September 05, 2020 @12:39AM (#60475622)

    Enhanced cybersecurity in space isn't that bad an idea. Anyone who's seen Star Trek knows how easy it (usually) is to compromise the computer systems and networks on the Enterprise(s) ...

    • by Bigbutt ( 65939 )

      Shoot, or even Independence Day when a totally incompatible interface hooked up to the alien spacecraft and disabled it. Unless of course we got our internet protocols from Area 51, then it all makes sense.

      [John]

    • Yeah, but I'd first invest in worker safety. Remember how violent they blow up whenever they get compromised?

      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        The primary investment at this time, should be getting to orbit cheaply and repeatedly and it should take priority over all other missions. Once you have achieved that to a required degree of real efficiency, then you can really look beyond.

        Getting to orbit cheaply and repeatedly makes the second stage reasonable a large rotating space station, LARGE. Send the pieces up and assemble. Once you have a large space station you can assemble spacecraft to go from the space station to the moon and back.

        Then you b

  • Without this directive, our best and brightest would never have thought to investigate the obvious.
    • Well, I was worried about all that extra money the government has at its disposal this fiscal year. I'm glad to see it's used to fund something useful instead of going to waste.

    • our best and brightest

      Or as he calls them, suckers and losers.

  • Because Americans can be spied upon and their private data siphoned off and sold to the highest bidder, but aliens have rights goddammit!

  • ...so arm these guys with the rods from god [businessinsider.com] and try a different kind of payload. Ok, not really. Quit salivating you warmongering hoard.
  • Orange man wants to enhance cybersecurity. I hate orange man, and therefore there must be NO cyber security. In fact, cyber security must be a nefarious plot by orange man in collaboration with the Russians. Aha!! We got him now. Call Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff!!

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      "I know more about drones than anyone, I'm very smart, a stable genius....uh, wha'zzat, a satellite is just a drone but further up. I know more about satellites than anyone."

      • by Tolvor ( 579446 )

        ‘Poor Kids’ Are Just as Bright as ‘White Kids’
        - Joe Biden, Aug 8, 2019.

        • by gtall ( 79522 )

          "A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. (To Bryan) And I think you said you’re going to

        • by gtall ( 79522 )

          “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” President Trump said at the White House ( on a ) Monday.

          January20: "I know more about viruses than anyone."
          January 22: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine."
          February 22: "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China."
          February 24: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA... Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"
          February 25: "CDC and my A

        • "Our great African American President hasn't exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!"

          - Donald J Trump Apr 27, 2015

        • "There are plenty of examples where Trump has indeed seemingly made an appeal to bigots. Remember his refusal to denounce David Duke by pretending not to know who Duke was, when he had quit the Reform Party over Duke? Remember how he blamed it on a bad earpiece, even though he had actually said the words "David Duke"? Remember when he said a judge was prejudiced against him because, he said, the judge was "Mexican" (the judge was born in Indiana)? There are plenty more examples like this, which might not be

        • “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations your house just went down 75% in value. And they say the noise causes cancer, you tell me that one, OK?" Trump said, imitating the whirring noise made by the turbines.

  • Trump uses an insecure cellphone to do his tweets, usually on Sunday but also on days he's sitting bed watching Fox & Friends and eating McDonald's. He shares top secret pictures of Iranian launch sites that have not yet been declassified, and the declassification of which [that he can legally do] puts our nation's intelligence officers at risk.

    He knows NOTHING about security, IT security, encryption[Barr says "it's bad"], the Space Force except it sounded cool but does nothing new, and he "calls for s

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