Cybersecurity in Space: Adversarial Efforts in 2021

As space faring nations continue building on the space posture, a myriad of threats arise. These include physical and non-physical counterspace weapons, including kinetic physical, non-kinetic physical, electronic, and cyber threats.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies’s (CSIS) Aerospace Security Project has recently released their annual Space Threat Assessment 2021, which aggregates and analyzes “publicly available information on the counterspace capabilities of other nations, primarily China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and India.” The recently released 2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community discusses some of these counterspace and cyber capabilities in the context of adversarial efforts that are of paramount importance to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).

Cyber Efforts

China

There have not been recent space focused “publicly acknowledged cyber attacks,” China’s cyberattacks in other domains have demonstrated their capabilities to exploit vulnerabilities against “financial or defense-related targets” according to the CSIS report. The US IC report also notes that there is a “prolific and effective cyber-espionage threat” that can be seen in operations targeting telecommunications firms, “providers of managed services and broadly used software”  with the intent of furthering intelligence collection and operations to combat CCP dissent and influence efforts. The US IC report notes that “counterspace operations will be integral to potential military campaigns by the PLA, and China has counterspace weapons capabilities intended to target US and allied satellites.”

Russia

In one of the most prolific cyberattacks, Russia has demonstrated their cyber capabilities in the 2020 SolarWinds breach that impacted over 250 U.S. federal agencies and companies. In tandem with their offensive space capabilities, including that of anti-satellite weapons, Russia’s cyber capabilities pose a threat to critical infrastructure and information systems that inevitably have an impact on cyber systems in space and terrestrially. Similarly to their assessment of China’s counterspace campaigns, the US IC report notes that Russia’s military space elements will continue to target and allied satellites.

Russia has further honed in on their electronic counterspace capabilities, utilizing AI to target space systems, and will continue launching satellites to bolster their space-based surveillance and targeting capabilities. However, efforts primarily consist of ground based systems with electronic warfare and signals intelligence that will focus on space systems.

Iran

The CSIS assessment of Iran’s cyber capabilities acknowledges their recent cyberattack against Israel, which “hacked a database of Israel Aerospace Industries' subsidiary Elta Systems.” The  U.S.Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency noted that “Iranian cyber threat actors have been continuously improving their offensive capabilities.” With this in mind, the CSIS posits that Iranian cyberattacks on space systems “could be the preferred course of action to compensate for the imbalance of capabilities in other domains.” The US IC report also notes that Iran’s cyber capabilities position them to attack critical U.S. infrastructure. Iran has recently proved that through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force their capability to conduct GPS spoofing operations using jamming drones and radar units with a focus on “offensive and counter warfare against enemy air power.”

North Korea

The CSIS report notes that cyberattacks pose the greatest counterspace threat to the U.S. according to government officials. As North Korean hackers continue advancing their cyber efforts, threats to “U.S. space systems and ground stations'' will continue to rise. The elite North Korean cyber warfare unit known as Bureau 121 contains over 6,000 operators. The majority of North Korean cyberattacks stem from Bureau 121, and seek financial gain to fund their WMD and ballistic missile programs. The US IC report notes the North Korean cyber threat, but does not mention North Korean space activities.

 

India

India is emerging as a competitive player in space. Their most notable system is their Samyukta electronic warfare system, which has the ability to jam communications and radar signals. As India strengthens their Defense Cyber Agency, their main focus has been cyber defense while targeting the governments of China and Pakistan. Otherwise, India has not tested or utilized their cyber capabilities in space.

Implications

As adversaries and allied nations continue their space programs and the development of space focused systems, the U.S. Space Force’s decision to focus on cyber systems as an area of concern comes as no surprise. Continuing to engage in Red Flag exercises similar to the exercises conducted in February 2021, monitoring of adversarial efforts, engaging with commercial partners, and the hardening of U.S. space systems will ensure security and strong posture as space continues to flourish as a critical domain.

 

The full CSIS Space Threat Assessment report dives deeper into counterspace weapons, international efforts, and space-based threats. The full 2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community provides a full examination of the threats and hazards outside of space and cyber as well.