Protecting satellite systems from disassociation DoS attacks

With the help of satellites, the entire surface of the world can be covered, which provides the high speedy communications all over the world. Consequently, security is becoming an important concern in the satellite multicast communications. However, due to the inherent dynamic broadcast nature of the communication medium, this multicast system is easily susceptible to interferences and interceptions. In addition, the satellite system generally has a large number of terminal members with the high frequent join-leave characteristic. Therefore, the satellite systems face significant security challenges. The denial of service (DoS) is one of the most harmful attacks to the satellite systems and also terrestrial fixed or mobile networks. It can maliciously prevent legitimate users from accessing the service. It is especially true for the disassociation DoS attacks where an attacker sends bogus disassociation requests to disable the communication between the server and their legitimate clients. In this paper, the main focus of our work is to detect and defend against the disassociation DoS attacks on the satellite system. We also provide preliminary modeling verifications and simulation results regarding the efficiency and practicability of this new approach. Further analysis of the proposed method is also appended to demonstrate its feasibility

Strategies to Recover from Satellite Communication Failures

In natural and manmade disasters, inadequate strategies to recover from satellite communication (SATCOM) failures can affect the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide timely assistance to the affected populations. This single case study explored strategies used by network administrators (NAs) to recover from SATCOM failures in humanitarian operations. The study population were NAs in Asia, the Middle East, Central Africa, East Africa, and West Africa. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 9 NAs and an analysis of network statistics for their locations. The resource-based view was used as the conceptual framework for the study. Using inductive analysis, 3 themes emerged from coding and triangulation: redundancy of equipment, knowledge transfer, and the use of spare parts to service the SATCOM infrastructure. The findings showed that the organization\u27s use of knowledge, and collaboration among NAs and nontechnical staff improved the organization\u27s ability to recover from SATCOM failures. The implication of this study for social change was the reduced cost of satellite services due to the efficient use of the bandwidth. These savings can be channeled into the purchase of vaccines, shelter, and the improvement in the quality of water and sanitation for displaced persons in humanitarian disasters, which improve the organization\u27s delivery of humanitarian services to the affected populations in the disaster