A powerful way cybercriminals can cause catastrophic damage on Earth is to attack in space. It may sound like science fiction, but now we all rely on space infrastructure to do business, any organization could be affected.<\/p>\n
Space enthusiast and Distinguished Chair of the cybersecurity program at Middle East Institute Chris Kubecka<\/a> explains a little-known space disaster scenario we should be more aware of in Tomorrow Unlocked\u2019s video Threats in Outer Space.<\/p>\n Although space exploration has brought many world-changing advances<\/a>, it\u2019s left orbit like many places on Earth \u2013 littered. From obsolete satellites to rocket parts and chips of paint, space junk circles the Earth at high speeds, threatening to collide with useful things, like working satellites<\/a> and the International Space Station.<\/p>\n Collisions could be deadly or cause irreparable damage to expensive equipment. Any smash-up creates more space junk, raising the risk to other orbiting objects. For a sense of just how much \u2018stuff\u2019 there is up there, see known space objects tracked in real-time on StuffIn.Space<\/a>, some known only as \u2018debris\u2019 or \u2018unknown.\u2019<\/p>\n One of the most serious consequences of a space collision is Kessler Syndrome<\/a>. Kubecka describes it: \u201cA big enough collision would create a chain reaction, causing space junk to smash into each other all over orbit, forming a dust cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n Earth could no longer communicate with satellites or send up missions to make repairs, making systems reliant on satellites, like aircraft and shipping navigation, useless.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n An accident or deliberate attack could trigger a Kessler Syndrome event. Kubecka explains, \u201cIt\u2019s now so cheap to build \u2018attack CubeSats<\/a>\u2018 or even larger satellites. You could cause collisions.\u201d She also points to the growing use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in space tech. \u201cIf IoT goes rogue, that\u2019s a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n As wealthy business people become more visible in space exploration, the potential for huge media attention will attract cybercriminals to attack their space systems and use them to create chaos in space \u2013 and so, chaos on Earth.<\/p>\n As well as protecting space systems from cyberattack through the best available methods, like cyber immunity<\/a> \u2013 building systems in a way that makes them almost impossible to compromise \u2013 we must take out the space trash.<\/p>\n As part of the Securing Space<\/a> initiative, Kaspersky supports fledgling innovators StartRocket as they develop a new way to remove space debris from orbit \u2013 with foam<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cybercriminals could use space junk to create chaos on Earth by causing a phenomenon that would make satellite communication impossible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2552,"featured_media":44752,"template":"","coauthors":[3673],"class_list":{"0":"post-44751","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-emerging-tech","7":"emagazine-category-infrastructure","8":"emagazine-category-safer-business","9":"emagazine-tag-satellites","10":"emagazine-tag-space"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/space-junk-cyberattack\/44751\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/space-junk-cyberattack\/26712\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/44751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=44751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Smash-ups in space<\/h2>\n
The \u2018black swan\u2019 of space crashes<\/h2>\n
Preventing a \u2018Kessler\u2019 event<\/h2>\n