COUNTDOWN TO THE QUALIFICATION EVENT
The democratization of space has opened up a new frontier for exploration and innovation. But with this opportunity, new cybersecurity vulnerabilities are also being created. One human can design, build and launch a satellite, adhering to very few standards and security protocols. So how can we achieve safe, reliable and trustworthy operations to truly realize the promise of space?
…BY HACKING A SATELLITE.
WAIT…WHAT?
The United States Air Force, in conjunction with the Defense Digital Service, presents this year’s Space Security Challenge, Hack-A-Sat. This challenge asks hackers from around the world to focus their skills and creativity on solving cybersecurity challenges on space systems.
CAPTURE THE FLAG, MEET SATELLITE
Pull together a team for our Hack-A-Sat Capture The Flag. Participants who successfully complete a set of qualification challenges on cybersecurity and space this spring will be invited to the ultimate challenge: to (ethically) hack a satellite.
DEF CON 28
ENTER THE WORLD OF SPACE SECURITY CHALLENGE IN THE AEROSPACE VILLAGE…
EVENT 1:
ONLINE QUALIFICATIONS
Start: May 22, 2020, 8:00 PM EDT /Midnight UTC (23rd)
End: May 24, 2020, 8:00 PM EDT / Midnight UTC (25th)
Ten $15K prizes
EVENT 2:
FINAL @ DEF CON 28
August 7 – 9, 2020
$50K 1st place
$30K 2nd place
$20K 3rd place
AEROSPACE VILLAGE
The Aerospace Village at DEF CON is hosting the Hack-a-Sat Capture the Flag, along with other planned activities, to provide education and awareness about aerospace cybersecurity and foster collaboration between the aerospace industry and the infosec/hacker community. The ultimate goal of the village is to improve security, safety and resilience through positive, productive collaboration among all aerospace stakeholders. LEARN MORE
SATELLITE WORKSHOPS
Just getting acquainted with satellites? Test your skills on a smaller scale and learn about hacking satellites. The Defense Digital Service will have workshops and challenges in the Aerospace Village at DEF CON 28 to allow hands-on learning about the difficulty and need for security in space.
AVIONICS WORKSHOPS
Want to get your hands on some avionics? There will be a handful of workshops from the Defense Digital Service in the Aerospace Village to help researchers get familiar with aircraft systems and perform vulnerability research on them. Stay tuned for more details on the avionics activities we have planned for the Aerospace Village at DEF CON 28 in the coming months.
The bottom line is, we can’t cover every platform—we need your help to secure the skies and outer space!
As technology continues to push the bounds of the possible, the cybersecurity community has challenged many industries to develop more resilient, reliable and safe technical solutions. It’s time to build trust and collaboration between the aerospace and cybersecurity communities to accelerate development of resilient and secure aerospace systems. It’s in a stimulating research and education-centric environment like DEF CON that we can begin to harness the collaboration and incubation of novel solutions among these two communities so that the space and aviation domains are safer, sooner, together.
HAVE QUESTIONS?
All FAQs will be posted HERE and updated regularly.