On March 30, Colorado Springs, CO-based Space ISAC, its founding board of directors and executive director launched Space ISAC’s Operational Watch Center and its initial operational capability. This is a crucial milestone for Space ISAC, whose executive, operational, and administrative functions are operated by the National Cybersecurity Center (NCC), and the global space industry, as they address the growing threats and vulnerabilities faced by this sector, which now serves billions of people worldwide.
Lt Gen (retired) Harry Raduege, CEO and president, National Cybersecurity Center, said, “Today’s opening of the Operational Watch Center marks a significant achievement for one of our pillars for cybersecurity to ensure operational collaboration takes place to protect critical infrastructure.” Earlier this year NCC established its pillars essential to responding to cyber threats: Lead, Educate, and Collaborate.
Space ISAC’s Operational Watch Center is supported by a dedicated team of 10 in-person analysts with additional virtual support enabled by cloud architecture. “Protecting space systems as critical infrastructure is incredibly rewarding,” said Hector Falcon, Cyber and Space Intelligence Integrator at Space ISAC. “Given that all 16 critical infrastructure sectors use these assets, we are defending not just an array of touchpoints but our livelihood. The analysts monitor data feeds and visualizations, detecting anomalies and correlating this information with other sources to produce comprehensive reports for our members.”
As the space economy is projected to reach a staggering $1 trillion by 2040, making it more commercial and accessible than ever before, the Watch Center is designed to address the increased susceptibility to attacks on our space-based assets. By monitoring both space and terrestrial activities, we can collectively defend against adversaries and reduce response times from months to minutes – an unprecedented achievement.
“To counter the global rise in threats to space critical infrastructure, the Space ISAC Watch Center will prove to be a vital capability in mitigating current and future risk,” said Jay Santee, vice president, defense systems group, The Aerospace Corporation. “Aerospace appreciates the ability to incorporate our Space Attack Research & Tactic Analysis (SPARTA) into the Watch Center to help address the information and communication barriers that hinder the identification and sharing of space-cyber Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP).”
The Watch Center is further strengthened by partnerships with over 30 government agencies worldwide. This collaboration allows us to share threat and vulnerability information, inform policy and promote joint efforts to secure the global space sector.
Source: Space ISAC
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