GMV was present at this year’s CYSAT event, which took place in Paris on 26 and 27 April. This is the only event in Europe devoted entirely to cybersecurity for space applications.

Today, many critical services on Earth rely on the collection and transmission of satellite data, and the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of these data must be protected against cyberthreats. Focusing on this context, CYSAT 2023 brought together numerous participants from the space and cybersecurity industry.

Julio Vivero, Business Partner of GMV’s Secure e-Solutions division, presented the topic “CheckerSat: A cybersecurity solution for operational ground systems,” in which he shared his knowledge and experience on the current cybersecurity problems affecting commercial space applications and GMV’s solutions in this field. He also took part in the panel discussion entitled “The role of cloud services in securing the ground segment and space data,” together with other sector experts.

CheckerSat is a GMV-developed solution designed to efficiently protect the ground segments of space missions against advanced threats. It changes the protection paradigm from focusing on what is known to be malicious to what is known to be secure. Unlike antivirus solutions, only approved operations (i.e. those known to be secure) are permitted, while the rest are disallowed. CheckerSat monitors processes running on systems, incoming and outgoing connections, system file integrity, disk encryption, and the use of USB devices, single-handedly defending space missions against a wide range of threats.

The aim of CYSAT is to bring together members of the space security and IT communities, to help construct a European ecosystem that can respond to the current and future challenges facing Europe’s space industry.