Insights on protecting digital assets in space

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This week on Federal Tech Talk, Damian DiPippa, vice president at ManTech joins host John Gilroy to talk about interconnected systems reaching from sensors on the ground to satellites. The working title is “Insights on protecting digital assets, even when they are 22 miles overhead.”

DiPippa covers everything from developments in space situation awareness to innovation. When it comes to physical security, it is common for people to practice on a shooting range. Damian suggests that ManTech can take that core concept and apply it to cyberspace.

They have an initiative called the cyber range. This is a simulation where trained professionals can hone their skills at defending against an attack. Today, the military knows that cyberattacks aren’t limited to the ground — satellites are vulnerable as well.

One reason it is so difficult to practice defending attacks against satellites is because, well, they are miles above us. ManTech takes a ground-based concept, a hack-a-thon, and applies it to a satellite. They sponsor a regular “hack a satellite” — where cyber attack teams can attempt to penetrate a satellite’s defenses.