The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has published new resources under its Aerospace SPARTA framework to help satellite operators detect and counter cyber threats in orbit.
SPARTA is a publicly available space-cyber knowledge base of real and lab-tested threats, sourced by the IEEE P3536 Committee working group that is developing international standards for space systems cybersecurity design. DHS S&T revealed the latest milestones on June 10.
The framework now includes Indicators of Behavior, published in April 2025, and Prioritized Countermeasures, released in March 2026. These resources are designed to enable onboard threat detection — a capability that space security experts have identified as critical because attacks against the spacecraft segment itself leave few traces.
“Onboard threat detection is critical for space cyber resilience,” said Ernest Wong, DHS S&T technical lead. “These industry resources are an important first step in lowering barriers and enabling space systems to be resilient against current and emerging cyber threats.”
The DHS effort comes as the space sector faces a sustained increase in cyberattacks, with experts reporting a 400% rise in activity following geopolitical conflicts. The ground segment and IT environments remain the most common entry points, but onboard detection could reveal whether attackers are also targeting spacecraft directly.
DHS said an open-source reference implementation of threat detectors will be released later this year, providing operators with actionable tools to implement the framework’s guidance.
