The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is advancing space cybersecurity research to protect critical infrastructure as reliance on space-based technologies grows. Through the Aerospace SPARTA framework, S&T has published key resources, including Indicators of Behavior (April 2025) and Prioritized Countermeasures (March 2026), to enable onboard threat detection and provide actionable information for implementing space cybersecurity. This work directly supports the missions of DHS and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in civil cybersecurity and critical infrastructure resilience.
A successful cyberattack in 2022 demonstrated the importance of space systems for enabling critical infrastructure. In response, S&T has been working to develop resources for industry to facilitate future cyber resilient space systems. An open-source reference implementation of threat detectors will be released later this year.
“DHS S&T is the primary engine anticipating future threats and driving research necessary for the resilience and security of the nation,” said Pedro Allende, DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology. “These efforts are major milestones in securing the space-based capabilities that our national critical infrastructure and DHS missions increasingly rely on.”
“Onboard threat detection is critical for space cyber resilience,” said Ernest Wong, S&T technical lead. “These industry resources are an important first step in lowering barriers and enabling space systems to be resilient against current and emerging cyber threats.”
Space industry professionals and stakeholders are encouraged to review the Aerospace SPARTA framework and contact DHS S&T or the Aerospace Corporation to discuss collaboration opportunities in advancing space cybersecurity.
The original announcement can be found here.
