Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), said the service is modifying its contracts to ensure that companies implement advanced cybersecurity measures in their systems.
Thomson told attendees at a California Polytechnic State University event that the Space Force continues to add language to its contracts to include “more advanced protective measures” involving supply chain and data handling operations, FCW reported Monday.
System developers need to secure contractor technologies and ensure cyber protections from program inception to launch operations, he noted.
According to Thompson, the U.S. needs to ensure control over its satellite networks to fortify defenses against evolving cyber threats such as denial of service attacks.
"Space is becoming congested and contested and that contested aspect means that we've got to focus on cybersecurity in the same way that the banking industry and cyber commerce focus on cybersecurity day in and day out," said Thomson.