Australian Space Cyber Forum focuses on national security

Regulating competing foreign interests in space complements the need for more controls over increasingly crowded cyberspace, say experts at Flinders University.

As the Australian Government prepares its 2023–2030 national cybersecurity strategy, the University’s Jeff Bleich Centre (JBC) is launching the first Australian Space Cyber Forum to discuss space security.

“Cyberspace and outer space are interdependent. As awareness of potential cyberthreats to both public and private space assets becomes more widespread, space powers have started to incorporate these issues in national policies,” said Flinders Associate Professor Rodrigo Praino, director of the Jeff Bleich Centre, a research group looking at digital technology, security, governance and democracy.

“Interference from foreign powers can potentially disrupt our financial, economic, civil infrastructure, [and] defence and diplomatic processes including elections.

“Many of the technologies we take for granted in the modern world are increasingly critically reliant on space-enabled mobility, positioning and timing services for their operation and security.

“However, the risks to the use of space are escalating as it becomes increasingly composed of commercial equipment and services that open it up to the same threats we increasingly face on the ground.

“The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, for example, has clearly demonstrated the need to consider the cybersecurity aspects of current and future space services in the next decade.

“The inclusion of space into the Australian critical infrastructure landscape also brings responsibilities for more complex and frequent technical cyber assessments of space systems before, during and after launch.

“Our conference will look at these important issues in an Australian context, taking into account how cyberthreats to space assets have been treated and regulated in recent years.”

The inagural Australian Space Cyber Forum, to be held at the Adelaide Conference Centre next month, includes a panel discussion led by visiting Flinders researcher Marco Aliberti and Clemence Poirer, from the European Space Policy Institute; JBC experts Praino and Dr Kat Robison Hasani; and other academic, industry and government experts.

Other Australian Space Cyber Forum speakers include:

• Dr Giuseppina Dall’Armi, Research Leader Electronic Warfare Operations Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) on ‘Quantum in Space and its Security Impacts’.
• Dr Daniel Floreani, from conference sponsor CyberOps, on the increasing use of cyber attacks in space.
• Dr Stephen Gensemer, Team Leader, Optical Systems Industrial Innovation Program, Manufacturing CSIRO, on growing Australia’s Quantum Communications industry.
• Mr Ron Keen from US Dept Homeland Security, National Risk Management Center and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
• Professor Jill Slay, SmartSatCRC Chair of Cyber Security.

The Australian Space Cyber Forum is being held on 10 October 2023 at Adelaide Convention Centre, Riverbank. For more information, click here and to buy tickets, click here.

Profits from the event will help fund student space cyber internships at Flinders University.

Image credit: iStock.com/piranka