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New ESPI Short Report―The War in Ukraine from a Space Cybersecurity Perspective

On February 24th 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine by launching a series of attacks against Kyiv as well as several cities located at the border of Russia and Belarus.  Concurrently, Russia conducted a cyberattack against ViaSat’s KA-SAT GEO satellite network, which was used by the Ukrainian army, thereby providing a concrete example of the use of cyber operations in complementarity with conventional military operations on land, sea, and air. In the space community, the KA-SAT cyberattack raised a broader debate regarding the cybersecurity of space systems and the protection of critical infrastructures.

The KA-SAT cyberattack can be considered as a good representative case of the state of cybersecurity in the space sector as well as a good illustration of the evolution of the militarization and weaponization of both space and cyberspace.

The report is a case study of the KA-SAT cyberattack, which enable to draw lessons to learn for the cybersecurity of the European space infrastructure. The report is focusing on:

  • The links and interdependences between space and cyberspace;
  • The technical description of the KA-SAT cyberattack;
  • A general analysis on similar cyber threats on the space supply chain and the user segment;
  • Lessons to learn from the KA-SAT cyberattack;
  • An analysis on the next steps for the cybersecurity of the European space infrastructure.

This study is part of a new category of ESPI publications called ESPI SHORTS, which are small self-funded research projects that aim at providing a very synthesized and critical analysis over space-related issues that we consider important and/or overlooked in the European space policy landscape. 

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