February 26, 2024 is an important day for the aerospace engineering community and those that develop space systems. Upon the White House’s release of Back to Building Blocks: A Path Toward Secure and Measurable Software, the United States government has issued its first technical cybersecure design guidance relating to space systems. As the Chair of the IEEE Standards Association P3349 Working Group that is developing the International Technical Standard for Space System Cybersecurity, I am excited to see the pivot from a legacy controls-oriented security paradigm in policy guidance, towards future-looking secure design principles for space. Our IEEE Space System Cybersecurity Standard that takes a secure-by-component approach to designing inherently secure space systems will be able to build upon ONCD’s guidance. As our industry participated in the multiple nationwide technical workshops on Space Systems Cybersecurity that helped to inform this technical document, we sought a signal from the U.S. government that secure-by-design principles should be distilled into cyber requirements for the space sector. This is it. We applaud the White House for igniting this conversation. Our international standards development effort comprising over 20 countries and 200 experts will be able to leverage this critical building block as we work towards our first iteration of the IEEE’s International Technical Standard for Space System Cybersecurity by 2025.
- Gregory Falco, Chair, IEEE Standard for Space System Cybersecurity