The war in Ukraine and the hack of Viasat’s KA-SAT network highlighted long-standing security concerns for LEO and MEO operators, speakers said at SATELLITE 2022’s “NGSO Mobile Connectivity Services at Sea and in Flight” session.
Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, said security risks are nothing new: “I don’t think the last couple of weeks are anything new. The satellite industry in particular, has always understood the fragility of our networks.” With 20 percent of revenues from government customers, “you’re just constantly paranoid that you haven’t done enough or haven’t invested enough.” He noted a shift toward edge security and cloud: “There’s a lot more activity at the edge, a lot more effort to protect even end user devices.”
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Hagay Katz of Gilat Satellite Networks said systems not architected for security from the outset are easy targets: “It is relatively easy to penetrate ecosystems that were not designed from day one to be secure.”
Joe Spytek, CEO of Speedcast, said the industry had always been a vector but didn’t pay enough attention: “Sometimes the equipment that we use is not the most secure.” He warned that geopolitics will reshape investment: “It’s not just about economics anymore. Geopolitical forces are actually going to determine what gets launched, how they are paid for, and which ones are potentially ultimately successful.”
Josh Marks, CEO of Anuvu, flagged rising user expectations: “There’s an expectation that smartphone apps today are going to work the same in the air as they do on terrestrial cellular networks.” Desch cautioned on new constellations: “A lot of us are scratching our heads about the business case. We won’t actually know for probably 10 more years.” VS
