Readout: ONCD Participates in Back to the Building Blocks of Space Conference
October 2024
On September 18, 2024, business leaders, technical experts, and government officials convened in Carlsbad, California, for the first “Back to the Building Blocks of Space” conference. The event was inspired by ONCD’s critically acclaimed technical report, Back to the Building Blocks: A Path Toward Secure and Measurable Software. The report focuses on eliminating entire classes of vulnerabilities by using memory safe programming languages, secure chip architecture, and formal methods. The use of secure building blocks in space systems is a key theme highlighted in the report.
This event builds upon ONCD’s prioritization of the Biden-Harris Administration’s critical work to secure space systems. In the summer of 2023, alongside colleagues from the National Space Council and the National Security Council, ONCD traveled across the country from Florida to Texas, Colorado to California, meeting with over 300 technical experts from 125 companies to learn how secure by design concepts could be applied in space. Their perspectives on memory safety provided invaluable contributions to “Back to the Building Blocks.”
The conference was kicked off by Viasat co-founder, Steve Hart, and Viasat Chief Cybersecurity and Data Officer, Nick Saunders, who underscored the importance of convening the space industry to implement the doctrine of Back to the Building Blocks.
ONCD’s Assistant National Cyber Director for Technology Security, Anjana Rajan, delivered the keynote address. Rajan stated, “the only way to outpace the adversary in this context is to secure the building blocks of cyberspace. These foundations are not abstract concepts floating in the digital ether; they are vital to everyday life. And when they are not secured, the resulting damage and destruction are evident.”
Next, Kymie Tan, Principal Cybersecurity Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Ron Ross, Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, engaged in a fireside chat to discuss a project called SunRISE that applies the security design principles of SP 800-160 to a real space mission system.
The event concluded with a panel discussion between Deputy Assistant National Cyber Director Jonathan Ring, Red Balloon Securities Founder Dr. Ang Cui, and Intel Senior Principal Engineer David Durham, to discuss partnership across the space supply chain.
