Space Cybersecurity Testbed: Fidelity Framework, Example Implementation, and Characterization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fidelity framework for space cybersecurity testbeds, demonstrates its application in building a comprehensive testbed, and discusses how it can simulate real-world space cyber attack scenarios.

Contribution

It proposes a novel framework with seven attributes for characterizing space cybersecurity testbeds and applies it to develop and analyze a concrete, multi-segment testbed.

Findings

The framework effectively guides testbed development and characterization.

The testbed can simulate real-world space cyber attack scenarios.

Future research directions are identified for enhancing space cybersecurity testing.

Abstract

Cyber threats against space infrastructures, including satellites and systems on the ground, have not been adequately understood. Testbeds are important to deepen our understanding and validate space cybersecurity studies. The state of the art is that there are very few studies on building testbeds, and there are few characterizations of testbeds. In this paper, we propose a framework for characterizing the fidelity of space cybersecurity testbeds. The framework includes 7 attributes for characterizing the system models, threat models, and defenses that can be accommodated by a testbed. We use the framework to guide us in building and characterizing a concrete testbed we have implemented, which includes space, ground, user, and link segments. In particular, we show how the testbed can accommodate some space cyber attack scenarios that have occurred in the real world, and discuss future research directions.