The 2022 hack on Viasat’s KA-SAT network continued to dominate cybersecurity discussions at SATELLITE 2023. TIA VP Mike Regan said the breach was avoidable: “Where were the access controls for the VPN devices for Viasat? Where was multi-factor authentication? The risk could have been avoided.”
Iridium CISO Manjula Sriram said: “If you have a flat tire, you have a flat tire. If someone enters your network, no matter how much encryption you have, you must have identity access management. You have to have basic hygiene.” Iridium’s security program is championed at every department with CEO-level support.
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CYSEC co-founder Mathieu Bailly noted the attack “is not a new phenomenon — it’s been going on for decades,” but said the blurring of commercial and military lines — with commercial providers supplying data to Ukraine — is a wake-up call. “For us, we need to make security accessible.” He called for better security education for space engineers: “Space engineers in Europe haven’t done security or cryptography courses.”
Shaun Waterman, cybersecurity correspondent and former Via Satellite writer, noted attackers only need to succeed once. He also argued the U.S. government doesn’t treat space as critical infrastructure: “Someone has to take this issue by the scruff of the neck. There isn’t an institutional framework in place for this. Someone has to write rules. I think it has to be driven by the White House.” VS
