Roee Idan, Roy Peled, Aviel Ben Siman Tov, Eli Markus, Boris Zadov, Ofir Chodeda, Yohai Fadida (Ben Gurion University of the Negev), Oliver Holschke, Jan Plachy (T-Labs (Research & Innovation)), Yuval Elovici, Asaf Shabtai (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)
The rapid increase in satellite deployment, and particularly nanosatellite deployment, has heightened their exposure to cybersecurity threats, making the task of safeguarding sensitive operations and data challenging. and making the task of safeguarding sensitive operations and data increasingly challenging. To address these challenges, we developed AegisSat, an open-source satellite cybersecurity testbed to study satellite resilience to cyberattacks and test dedicated detection and defense mechanisms, including machine learning-based solutions. Our testbed includes a physical CubeSat (Earth-based) and an environment emulator that mimics realistic orbital conditions such as sunlight, and magnetic fields. We also created a comprehensive dataset consisting of telemetry data and labeled attack data from experiments conducted using different scenarios. The data was collected during hundreds of experiments we performed in the testbed. By making both the design of the testbed and the dataset accessible to the research community, this work advances understanding of satellites’ vulnerability to cyberattacks, drives the development of robust cybersecurity defenses, and establishes a platform for future research.