The Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will consider measures on reducing the risk of the spread of malware for spacecraft, according to a draft document published on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2019) The Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will consider measures on reducing the risk of the spread of malware for spacecraft, according to a draft document published on Wednesday."States and international intergovernmental organizations should seek to prevent the proliferation of malicious information and communications tools and techniques and harmful hidden functions in software, as such techniques and functions may, if embedded in space objects and/or related equipment, compromise the operational status and mission performance of space objects and the ability to operate these space objects with assurance," the document said.
The subcommittee also wants manufacturers and suppliers of technology products to provide assurances for customers that their space objects will not be targeted by covert malware.
"States and international intergovernmental organizations should take steps to ensure the integrity of the supply chain so that end users can have confidence in the security of information and communications technology products to be used aboard space objects and/or as part of related equipment ... Manufacturers and suppliers should be open to giving recipients and/or end-user assurances of the absence of harmful hidden functions on space objects and/or related equipment they provide," the statement said.
The initiatives were prepared after the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space's meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna in June 2018. Documents adopted by the UN committee are not legally binding and are instead introduced voluntarily by UN member states at the national level.
In 2013, then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, expressed concern over the use of foreign details and software in Russian space vehicles because, from his point of view, this paved the way for targeting Russian spacecraft with malware.
