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Purdue University joins Space ISAC for research, workforce development

Purdue is the first university to join the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center to help protect assets and infrastructure in space.
A concept drawing of Space Station Freedom
A concept drawing of Space Station Freedom (NASA)

Purdue University is the first higher education institution to join the newly formed Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the National Cybersecurity Center announced this week. Through the Space ISAC, or S-ISAC, the university will assist in longer-term research, along with leading educational and workforce development initiatives.

The group was announced last year at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to facilitate collaboration across the space industry and aims to enhance global responses to IT security vulnerabilities, incidents and threats in space.

And with a legacy of 24 NASA astronaut alumni, including Neil Armstrong, Purdue University will lead efforts to develop a workforce that can help protect space assets and infrastructure from cyberthreats, university leaders said Wednesday.

“Space ISAC is honored to have Purdue as a founding member as they will reach into the next generation of space industry professionals to show them we need them to design security into space systems. Integrating security into the space sector will be essential to achieving the multi-decade mission of the Space ISAC,” Erin Miller, vice president of operations for the Space ISAC, said in the announcement.

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The S-ISAC is also comprised of members from the aerospace and cybersecurity industries, including Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Booz Allen Hamilton, MITRE, SES, Lockheed Martin and Parsons Corporation.

Daniel DeLaurentis, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue, will represent the university on the S-ISAC board of directors.

“We are gratified that the Space ISAC charter recognizes the critical role that academia must play in sustaining the security of our nation’s most critical infrastructure,” he said.

S-ISAC is one of at least 24 ISACs currently sharing information about cyberthreats for industries such as finance, energy, health care, surface transportation and telecommunications.

Betsy Foresman

Written by Betsy Foresman

Betsy Foresman was an education reporter for EdScoop from 2018 through early 2021, where she wrote about the virtues and challenges of innovative technology solutions used in higher education and K-12 spaces. Foresman also covered local government IT for StateScoop, on occasion. Foresman graduated from Texas Christian University in 2018 — go Frogs! — with a BA in journalism and psychology. During her senior year, she worked as an intern at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and moved back to the capital after completing her degree because, like Shrek, she feels most at home in the swamp. Foresman previously worked at Scoop News Group as an editorial fellow.

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