AI Security for Space technologies: Keep an eye on your IoT device activity

Achieving Cybersecurity for IIoT Assets in Space

asvin BeeHive IoT device management customisable OTA and DLT audit support

With the successful landing and exploration on Mars, space is once again commanding our attention and dominating conversations. Yet for all the technical expertise required to place these assets in space, as well as the fact that almost all critical infrastructures rely upon space systems, the industry vertical has not kept apace with other high-tech industries to mitigate cybersecurity risks due to physical inaccessibility and other unique challenges. Not confined to the operation of a rover on Mars, there are more than 70,000 Low Earth Orbit micro-satellites already, or scheduled to deploy; the uninterrupted and secure functionality of these will demand Over-The-Air (OTA) innovation to update their off-the-shelf software, provide security patches and isolate vulnerable devices so that remediation efforts can be addressed.

Challenges

Supply Chain and Lifecycle Security

Who is responsible for the space system ecosystem? The complex nature of the space assets supply chain includes a nearly impossible track and trace environment which makes audits of installed software, updates and security of these assets governing everything from national security to agriculture to the GPS on planes, trains and automobiles mission critical.

Increasing Use of Commercial Software

Contrary as it might seem, satellites and space probes rely heavily upon off-the-shelf, commercially available software. There is a very real need to secure space assets with the strategic implementation of OTA update and patch management and scheduled rollouts.

Industrial-level Space Asset Deployment will be met with Attack Automation

Low Earth Orbit Micro and Nano Satellites are being deployed in the tens of thousands. The operating systems of these fleets become an irresistible and valuable targets for sophisticated cyberattacks designed to exploit fleet vulnerabilities of identical constructed satellites.

Linked Internet of Things (IoT) Space Assets Expands Attack Surface

Space assets have evolved from analog devices to high performance, connected digital computing platforms operating at the edge. New AI applications are turning satellites and probes into connected assets with the net result of these connections and their standardized computing platforms expanding the attack surface of space assets and exposing them to cybercriminals.

Solutions

asvin Beehive: Manage, Update, and Control Device Fleets

asvin’s Beehive is an easy-to-use intuitive online platform that ensures administrative control and provides an overview of your organisations’ Internet of Things devices in operation. asvin Beehive allows organisations to establish user groups and define roles to manage and control tasks such as blacklisting and whitelisting fleet devices, gain access to the telemetric data of specific IIoT devices and plan maintenance actions for groups of specific IoT devices. asvin Beehive can be integrated into Space Command Centre platforms via open standards such as JSON, MQTT, OPC UA, and REST.

asvin Ant Street: Over-The-Air Updates and Patch Distribution

Plan, schedule, and rollout distribution of updates and security patches to IoT device fleets via asvin’s cryptographically secure and distributed just-in-time by decentralized technology (DLT) Ant Street. Updates are cascaded to the right device within predetermined scheduled maintenance windows. asvin’s Ant Street supports OTA updates for IoT-specific RF protocols as LoRaWAN, 5G, and NB-IoT, to name just a few.

asvin Paw Print: Unique IDs and Fingerprints for IoT devices and Software / Firmware

Create and store unique IDs for space IoT devices and their related hardware and software with physical unclonable functions (PUF) and trusted platform modules (TPM) for embedded systems in an immutable DLT for maximum resilience.

asvin Trackhound: Software Supply Chain Tracking

asvin’s Trackhound brings transparency into the software supply chain and lifecycle. From initial device installation and software deployment, subsequent OTA updates, and security patch distribution to forensic audits, Trackhound allows administrators to increase network security and ensure software integrity. Track and trace the entire software supply chain and lifecycles of IoT device fleets at the edge.

asvin Eagle Eye: Monitoring, Risk management and Alarming

asvin’s Eagle Eye renders continuous monitoring of IoT device fleets. Using advanced machine learning analytics (AI) asvin’s Eagle Eye provides anomaly detection to ensure network and individual registered device integrity. In the event of a cyber-attack or operational dysfunctionalities, Eagle Eye’s risk management and alarming protocols are triggered and support counteraction including isolation of vulnerable devices.