Jerry Petersen
Amid increasing adversary use of cyber capabilities to target space infrastructure, Lockheed Martin‘s space division now places cybersecurity at the forefront of its work to ensure that its networks, spacecraft and personnel are protected against such threats, according to 2024 Wash100 award winner Maria Demaree.
To secure its networks, Lockheed reframed its entire incident prevention, detection and response approach around the Cyber Kill Chain framework, Demaree, the company’s vice president and general manager for national security space, said in a column recently published on The Cyber Security Review. Developed by Lockheed, the Cyber Kill Chain framework approaches cybersecurity by focusing on the actions a defender can take to disrupt an attack.
To secure spacecraft, the company is adopting zero trust architectures. Demaree said opportunities are being looked into for the implementation of ZTA to secure communication between various space assets without degrading their capabilities.
The company also pioneered a software-defined satellite architecture called SmartSat, which works to allow users to push updates, like software patches, to spacecraft that are already in orbit.
Finally, to bolster workforce vigilance, the company has worked to foster a cyber-conscious culture through training and communication.
With cybersecurity part of daily operations, Demaree said, “[We] are enhancing our company’s resilience as well as maintaining our competitive edge in the highly sensitive and perpetually dynamic aerospace and defense industry.”
