NASA Publishes Cybersecurity Guidance for Space Missions

NASA has released its inaugural Space Security Best Practices Guide, a document designed to enhance space mission cybersecurity for the private and public sectors.

The guide covers cybersecurity principles for space vehicles and ground-segment pieces of equipment. The principles within the guide build on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Special Publication 800-53, a set of security and privacy controls that ensures organizations adhere to the Federal Information Security Management Act.

The document ensures that NASA and its partners improve the security and reliability of their space missions. It is designed to provide security guidance for missions, programs and projects of any size, NASA said.

NASA’s guidance comes months after the NIST issued cybersecurity principles for space-based networks.

In September, the NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence published NIST IR 8441, which is designed to guide organizations operating in the hybrid satellite network sector. The guidance helps operators identify hybrid satellite network-related systems, assets and data risks; protect HSN services through self-assessment; detect anomalies in data and services; and recover from attacks, among other cyber hygiene principles.