Cybersecurity has entered the final frontier with a new course for professionals working in Scotland’s growing space sector.
Space industry executives are enrolling on the ‘executive space course’ at Strathclyde University in Glasgow – to understand the challenges of cybersecurity in space.
The course is being delivered by the university’s business school under the auspices of the International Space University (ISU).
Its focus is on understanding threats, vulnerabilities, detection and response to cybercrime. The May 13-15 programme also covers satellite building, emerging space technology and entrepreneurship and opportunities in space.
The course is aimed at professionals working in the space sector or those who want to develop a better understanding of the rapidly evolving space sector, offering participants postgraduate level ‘micro credentials’.
Dr Sharon Lemac-Vincere, an interdisciplinary academic at the University of Strathclyde and a visiting academic at the International Space University, who organised the course, said: “The UK & Scottish strategy is to grow the space sector, which has huge potential. But space is also an attractive proposition for cybercriminals and so cyber resilience has to be an essential part of any space business.
“Academia plays a key part in supporting the space sector through innovative research and education, but I believe that executives in the sector need specific cyber resilience training.
“If leaders understand cybersecurity, then they are more likely to see it as a critical part of the picture and engage with it.
“Cybersecurity innovation needs to match the ambition and innovation in the space sector, and stay ahead of the cybercriminals. It’s about becoming one of the most secure space nations in the world, and being disruptive and ambitious.”
The course will be followed by a conference in Strathclyde’s Technology & Innovation Centre from May 13-16: ‘Space: Securing our Entrepreneurial Future.’ The key focus is the need to prioritise secure-by-design cybersecurity and resilience planning, in a rapidly growing space industry.
Globally, there are broad skills gaps in the space and cyber sector, with an estimated three and a half million unfilled vacancies by 2025. Dr Lemac-Vincere added: “By addressing these challenges and fostering collaboration, it paves the way to creating a secure and thriving entrepreneurial space sector.”