SpiderOak in Collaboration with Axiom Space Demonstrates Rust Enabled OrbitSecure Platform on ISS

SpiderOak in Collaboration with Axiom Space Demonstrates Rust Enabled OrbitSecure Platform on ISS

SpiderOak, one of the leaders in zero-trust space cybersecurity solutions, has announced the successful demonstration of their next generation OrbitSecure software module re-written in the memory safe programming language Rust with protocol design formally proven via the Alloy specification language on the International Space Station (ISS)

This demonstrates key modern cybersecurity requirements called for by the White House Office of the National Cyber Director in a report published last February. SpiderOak is one of the first commercial software companies to successfully demonstrate a formally verified and Rust enabled security capability on a crewed space station.

OrbitSecure is SpiderOak's zero trust software-only solution designed to operate in extreme edge environments such as space securing information flow across disconnected, low-bandwidth, unsecure network conditions beyond the frontier of traditional cloud services.

Working through our strategic partner Axiom Space, a provider of commercial human spaceflight services and builder of the world's first commercial space station, SpiderOak executed validation testing on July 1, proving efficacy and formally verifying Rust enabled data security capabilities in orbit. This latest test comes less than a year after the successful demonstration of OrbitSecure done in partnership with Axiom Space on the ISS in 2023.

Memory safe programming languages, like Rust, have been identified in President Biden's National Cybersecurity Strategy as a key security building block in creating software systems that are secure by design.  It is estimated that memory safety bugs are responsible for up to 70% of security issues in code written in memory unsafe languages, and evidence shows memory safety vulnerabilities are nearly eliminated when large code bases are migrated to a memory safe language. Rust is a modern, memory-safe system featuring runtime and performance characteristics well-suited to the demands of spaceflight control systems.

In addition to Rust, OrbitSecure employs formal protocol validation written in the Alloy specification language to provide vastly greater assurance that OrbitSecure's protocol performs exactly as designed across the network, eliminating entire categories of vulnerabilities.

"This successful demonstration positions SpiderOak at the forefront of the coming cyber-safe tidal wave of products and services that will provide the backbone to the burgeoning space economy," said SpiderOak CEO Dave Pearah. "We are excited by both the successful demonstration of our next generation memory safe OrbitSecure software on the ISS, and that our security philosophy is aligned with how our nation's leadership thinks about 21st century space cybersecurity."

"SpiderOak is a great example of a company stepping up to rebalance the responsibility for cybersecurity from users to developers.  When we spoke with the White House about their plan to increase developer use of memory safe programming languages, we couldn't think of a better test than to put it into orbit," said Tom Patterson, Quantum and Space Security lead at Accenture. "After investing in SpiderOak in 2023, we continue to collaborate, using critical secure-by-design principles in order to launch cyber into space for our clients."

Click here to learn more about SpiderOak's OrbitSecure software.

Publisher: SatNow
Tags:-  SatelliteLaunchGround

GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013