{"id":2125,"date":"2023-05-10T21:38:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T19:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spacesecurity.info\/thales-demo-at-cysat-what-was-the-point-again\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T16:33:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T14:33:24","slug":"thales-demo-at-cysat-what-was-the-point-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spacesecurity.info\/en\/thales-demo-at-cysat-what-was-the-point-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Thales demo at CYSAT: what was the point again"},"content":{"rendered":"

CYSAT<\/a>\u00a02023 is over. It\u2019s time to review everything that has happened during this amazing event.\u00a0But first, let\u2019s remember what CYSAT is.<\/p>\n

CYSAT is the leading European cybersecurity and space exhibition that took place 26th-27th April in Paris (Station F). This is the biggest European event entirely focused on cybersecurity for the space industry.<\/p>\n

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Since 2021, the event brings space and cybersecurity experts together to create a European ecosystem capable of responding to the current and future challenges faced by the European space industry.<\/p>\n

Faced with cybersecurity challenges and the growing importance of data protection in space, it is crucial to bring together communities of cybersecurity experts to build a European ecosystem capable of addressing current and future industry challenges.<\/p>\n

Last years\u2019 event saw more than 450 space specialists, decision-makers and experts come together. In its third year, CYSAT highlighted Europe\u2019s cybersecurity capabilities and solutions dedicated to space from both a technological and geostrategic perspective.<\/p>\n

To find the full programme and more information on the event, visit:\u00a0https:\/\/cysat.eu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Mathieu Bailly, VP at\u00a0CYSEC<\/a>, Co-founder and Director of\u00a0CYSAT<\/a>, has published on his linkedin profile what was the point of the Thales demo at CYSAT. First, Mathieu what was NOT part of the demo.<\/p>\n

We publish these key takeaways below with his permission.\u00a0Thank\u2019s to Mathieu for sharing whith us its key takeaways.<\/p>\n

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Mathieu Bailly, VP Space chez CYSEC et Directeur de CYSAT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thales demo at CYSAT<\/a>: what was the point again??<\/p>\n

First, what was NOT part of the demo \u274c<\/p>\n

1\ufe0f\u20e3 The ground segment \u274c<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the short-medium term it is reasonable to assume that cyber attacks on space systems disturbing the nominal operations of the mission (i.e. taking control of the spacecraft bus and\/or payload but excluding eavesdropping) remain ground-based.<\/p>\n

That means discarding scenarios involving rogue satellites with capabilities to perform non-cooperative rendez-vous. To me that’s fair for the next 5 years.<\/p>\n

2 main scenarios:<\/p>\n

1. the spacecraft is flying and operational
\n\ud83d\udc49 then the attacker has to go through the ground segment (mission control, ground stations, etc) before reaching the spacecraft
\n\ud83d\udc49 the attacker is capable to send TMTC that are valid and executed on board without the operator noticing or able to react (e..g via its own ground stations)<\/p>\n

2. the spacecraft is under development on ground (design, assembly, test, transport, launch)
\n\ud83d\udc49 the attacker manages to access information (e.g. cryptographic keys) or to install a malware \/ backdoor on board (e.g. corrupting the flight control software)<\/p>\n

These are the typical scenarios with the biggest likelihood x severity scores.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 None of the above were covered by the Thales demo since the ground segment was out of the scope as the team was granted the access to OPS-SAT (as any other experimenter).<\/p>\n

2\ufe0f\u20e3 On-board: not representative of most missions \u274c<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd39On-board, OPS-SAT is also very “unique” since it’s been pioneering many technology innovation like flying Linux, re-configuring FPGAs on a daily basis, etc (read all OPS-SAT firsts here \ud83d\udd17\u00a0https:\/\/lnkd.in\/eC3eDgDv<\/a>) \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 So the demo by Thales has been done a spacecraft that is currently not representative of the current missions in operations or close to the launch pad (especially institutional missions!)<\/p>\n

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\u2753 So what was the point of this demo then \u2753<\/p>\n

I’m getting there!<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd39The point was to show that current space tech trends (advanced on-board processing, regular in-orbit reconfiguration, as a service models, etc) are all great progress that will soon be adopted by most operators BUT that come at the expense of greater cyber risks \ud83d\udc7e<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd39And currently the space industry (especially\u00a0#newspace) is embracing these innovations without the security culture that should come with it \ud83e\udd20<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49That’s why showing how security experts can manipulate data, take control of the Attitude and Control system of a modern spacecraft by using various methods of privilege escalation exploiting flaws on access management and Linux helps to spread the word: \ud83d\udce2 BE PREPARED!<\/p>\n

Summary of the full attack flow<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Summary of the full Thales attack flow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Check this demo in video<\/strong><\/p>\n