According to SpaceNews, Deloitte launched its first hack-hunting satellite named Deloitte-1 in March, with plans to operate nine spacecraft over the next 18 months to demonstrate cyber intrusion detection technology in orbit. The consulting firm is building these “Silent Shield” payloads to prove that space networks need orbital defenses, not just ground-based protection. This push comes as the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center reported a staggering 118% surge in space-related cyber incidents in 2025 compared to 2024, with 117 publicly reported incidents from January through August alone. Retired U.S. Air Force Major General Bradley Pyburn, now a Deloitte managing director, emphasized that defenders have to be perfect everywhere while attackers only need to succeed once. The Defense Department has rolled out new cybersecurity frameworks like the Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct, but industry executives argue compliance alone isn’t enough against determined adversaries.
Sponsored content — provided for informational and promotional purposes.
The Asymmetry Problem
Here’s the thing that keeps security experts up at night: the defender’s dilemma. As Pyburn put it, defenders have to be perfect across ground segments, uplinks, downlinks, space architectures, and cross links. But attackers? They only need to get it right once. That brutal math is what’s driving Deloitte’s investment in orbital cyber defense. They’re essentially creating a testbed in space where they can launch simulated attacks against their own satellites to see what works and what doesn’t. It’s like having a digital shooting range, but in orbit.
Why Ground Defenses Aren’t Enough
Look, we’ve been thinking about space cybersecurity all wrong. For years, the focus has been on protecting ground stations and networks. But satellites themselves? They’re essentially computers with solar panels, and most lack even basic cyber protections. Ryan Roberts, who runs Deloitte’s Silent Shield program, pointed out the obvious: we keep launching these vulnerable systems into orbit while only worrying about the ground segment. The 2022 Viasat attack during Russia’s Ukraine invasion was a wake-up call – hackers didn’t need to touch the satellites themselves. They took out the modems on the ground and achieved the same strategic effect. Basically, if your satellite can’t defend itself in orbit, you’re playing defense with one hand tied behind your back.
The Growing Threat Landscape
The numbers don’t lie – space cyber incidents are exploding. A 118% increase year-over-year is terrifying, and that’s just what gets publicly reported. Timothy Zentz from Nightwing probably nailed it when he said threats are advancing more rapidly than solutions. Think about it: we’re putting more assets in space, building more ground stations, creating larger constellations. Every new node expands the attack surface. And now we’re seeing sophisticated campaigns like Salt Typhoon, attributed to Chinese state-sponsored hackers, moving from targeting traditional telecom providers to satellite communications companies. Ransomware against satellite constellations? That’s not science fiction anymore – it’s a legitimate concern that could be incredibly lucrative for criminals.
The Silent Shield Approach
So what makes Deloitte’s approach different? Their Silent Shield payload uses an out-of-band intrusion detection system. In plain English, that means it can monitor satellite traffic but can’t inject anything back into the satellite. It’s a one-way street designed specifically so that if the cyber defense system itself gets compromised, it doesn’t become a weapon against the host satellite. They’re testing against 20 different threat profiles based on the SPARTA framework. Honestly, it’s a clever design – you get the monitoring capability without creating additional risk vectors. The bigger question is whether this kind of corporate-led initiative can scale fast enough. Deloitte’s basically building this with internal funding and Spire Global as a manufacturing partner. But with space becoming what U.S. Space Command Gen. Stephen Whiting calls “the soft underbelly of our space enterprise,” we’re going to need more players stepping up with practical solutions, not just compliance frameworks.
