WASHINGTON – TriSept, a launch integration and mission management specialist, announced a strategic partnership Dec. 7 with cybersecurity firm SpiderOak to offer an “end-to-end security system” for satellites and ground systems.
To address growing cyberthreats, TriSept is pairing its satellite security software, TriSept Security Enhanced Layer (TSEL), with SpiderOak’s OrbitSecure zero-trust software.
TSEL “protects the satellites themselves,” while OrbitSecure “protects the data that goes from that satellite compute module to other compute modules or to the ground,” SpiderOak CEO Dave Pearah told SpaceNews. “Together we provide a complete end-to-end solution for space cybersecurity.
Threats to satellites and their terrestrial networks are growing. Increased reliance on satellites for communications, Earth observation and security makes them higher-profile targets for hackers. At the same time, network access points are multiplying.
“It’s no longer that vertical stovepipe of one operator, one manufacturer, protecting their own system,” Pearah said. “We have data and computation crossing multiple satellite constellations and multiple operators of ground stations. The ability to restrict access for both compute and storage of data to just the actors that need to have it, that’s what zero trust is all about.”
TriSept developed TSEL to augment cybersecurity for small satellites that often don’t “have the computing power and resources that you see on larger satellites or in ground infrastructure to provide a robust protection against intrusion,” said Augustine Ponturiero, TriSept chief strategy and growth officer.
In 2021, the U.S. Air Force awarded SpiderOak a Small Business Innovation Research contract to test OrbitSecure on military satellites and ground stations. OrbitSecure establishes cryptographic keys to give various parties in a network access to the datasets they need to perform their work.
“TriSept and SpiderOak are providing solutions for not just new satellites, but the entire existing infrastructure and all things that touch the ecosystem,” SpiderOak CEO Dave Pearah told SpaceNews.
TriSept CEO Rob Spicer added in a statement, “As the new space economy leads to increasing dependence on spacecraft operations, commercial and government operators need a reliable and robust security solution that effectively protects against growing threats across the ground and space infrastructure supporting a broad range of missions.”
