The National Security Agency provided a set of recommendations to help organizations protect very small aperture terminals and understand associated risks.
The cybersecurity advisory titled “Protecting VSAT Communications” recommends enabling all available capabilities that secure transmissions across VSAT networks, NSA said Tuesday.
These capabilities include encryption, which the agency advises to use on communications prior to transmissions.
NSA also urges organizations to keep information technology hardware up to date; change default, vendor-specific credentials that come in VSAT systems; and isolate the network’s management plane via firewalls.
Isolating the management plane or system would make it inaccessible to remote modems, which could be openings to threats. The agency noted that VSAT technology was not made with a strict security focus, and thus recommends precautionary steps to mitigate risks.