Two Space Force generals expressed optimism for that nation’s newest service while noting areas of concern during the 2021 Rocky Mountain Cyberspace Symposium Wednesday, an annual event held in Colorado Springs that moved online this year.

Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, commander of Space Operations Command at Peterson Air Force Base and Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center in California said using computer warfare tools to defend satellites while learning new skills to target enemy satellites are key goals for the service.

“Our Space Force guardians who are focused on cyber are our first line of defense and in the near term we must posture them to defensively guard against adversary threats to our space assets,” Whiting said. “However, as we all know, cyber is constantly evolving and we are pivoting our cyber guardians form building and operating base-level IT networks to defending those networks against hostile action to potentially developing offensive capabilities, which will further our space superiority and joint force integration efforts.”

Those cyber-focused guardians are part of Space Delta 6, a unit formed last year that functions like an Air Force wing, based at Peterson Air Force Base.

“For countries like Iran and North Korea, that can’t yet take us on in the space domain, the low cost of entry to develop cyber capabilities to seek to deny our global space networks gives them an opportunity we must take seriously,” Whiting said.

Whiting said he is excited about the work Delta 6 and Delta 7 – which focuses on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance – are doing.

“We’ve really paired intel, cyber and space in a way that just wasn’t possible prior to December 2019,” Whiting said.

Space Force was established in December 2019 as the newest military branch.

“With the Space Force having been established only 15 months ago and U.S. Space Command preceding it by an additional four months, the nation, the joint force, our interagency teammates, our allies, and strategic competitors are looking to see what is different and what is new about the path we are on,” Whiting said. “And I’m happy to say that although there is still a tremendous amount of work for us to do, we are on an accelerating upward trajectory.”

“These changes are important for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it lets those who may wish to disrupt our freedom of action in space and cyber know that we have a dedicated force of men and women motivated to protect and defend America and our allies in those domains. And to put a finer point on it, we now have a cadre of Space Force guardians, whose career-long focus will be to develop, acquire and operate combat-ready, intel-led, cyber-secure, space and combat support forces.”

During Thompson’s comments, he mentioned that cybersecurity continues to be a pressing challenge for organizations.

“We’ve all seen how cyber-attacks have impacted both the commercial and government sectors over the last decade,” Thompson said. “Whether you’re talking in terms of exfiltrated intellectual property, compromised supply chains or the development of offensive cyber capabilities by our adversaries, those countries have been continuing to refine and advance their cyber toolkits against us.”

“In early February, an attacker gained access to the control system of a water treatment facility in Oldsmar, Florida. Once inside the system, the attacker raised the levels of sodium hydroxide being pumped into the water to toxic levels. Thankfully, this attack was quickly noticed and reversed before anyone was harmed but it is really sobering to me and to many of you about the need for us to continually remind ourselves that securing our infrastructure control systems is really important.”

“To meet that ever-increasing challenge in ensure cybersecurity, we are pursuing a number of efforts to address both our field systems and our systems currently in development.”

Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting