Research

303 Overwatch A.S.B.L is a Luxembourg non-profit working on the cybersecurity and resilience of space systems: the satellites, ground stations, communication links, and user equipment that space services depend on. This page is for researchers, collaborators, funders, and publishers who want to know what we study, what we have published, and how to work with us.

Our research department exists to do three things: produce peer-reviewed research on securing space systems, carry that research into international standards so it changes how systems are built, and give independent and non-profit researchers a recognised organisation to publish under.

Research areas

Our work centres on designing security into space systems from the component level up, an approach the field calls secure-by-design. Within that, we focus on:

• Secure-by-component design for space missions. Decomposing a mission into its components and data flows, enumerating the attack surface of each, and deriving engineering requirements that prevent mission failure.
• Link segment security. Protecting the radio frequency and optical communication links between spacecraft, ground stations, and aerial platforms, including how environmental conditions and adversaries jointly degrade link confidentiality.
• Resilient heterogeneous networks. Securing multi-layer architectures that combine satellite constellations with high-altitude and low-altitude platforms for critical applications such as wildfire management.
• Minimum cybersecurity requirements. Establishing the smallest set of design principles that preserve access to space by preventing the permanent loss of control of a spacecraft.
• Software supply chain transparency for space. Applying software bill of materials practice to space systems, so operators know what runs on the systems they depend on.

Peer-reviewed publications

Research by 303 Overwatch is published in peer-reviewed IEEE venues. The affiliation appears in print as 303 Overwatch (A.S.B.L), Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

1. N. Benchoubane, O. Ben Yahia, W. Ferguson, G. Gür, S. Chakravarty, G. Falco, and G. Karabulut Kurt, “Securing Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) Communications for Wildfire Management: Mitigating the Effects of Adversarial and Environmental Threats,” IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification, vol. 9, pp. 713 to 726, 2025. DOI: 10.1109/JRFID.2025.3601843
2. O. Ben Yahia, W. Ferguson, S. Chakravarty, N. Benchoubane, G. Karabulut Kurt, G. Gür, and G. Falco, “Securing Satellite Link Segment: A Secure-by-Component Design,” 12th IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments (WiSEE), 2024, pp. 177 to 182. DOI: 10.1109/WiSEE61249.2024.10850060. Preprint: arXiv:2411.12632
3. G. Falco, N. Boschetti, A. Viswanathan, B. Bailey, C. Maple, G. Karabulut Kurt, J. Slay, E. Birrane, D. Logsdon, S. Bennett, W. Ferguson, et al., “Minimum Requirements for Space System Cybersecurity: Ensuring Cyber Access to Space,” 2024 IEEE 10th International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology (SMC-IT), 2024, pp. 78 to 88. DOI: 10.1109/SMC-IT61443.2024.00016. Published under our founder’s earlier project affiliation.

Our co-authors on these works are at Polytechnique Montréal, Cornell University, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Kennesaw State University, and partner institutions across government, industry, and academia.

Standards work at IEEE

Research matters most when it changes how systems are engineered. Our founder, William O. Ferguson, Senior Researcher and Primary Investigator and an IEEE Senior Member, carries our research perspective into the IEEE Standards Association:

• Technical Editor, IEEE P3536 Space Systems Cybersecurity (2023 to present). IEEE P3536 is the emerging standard for space system cybersecurity design, setting baseline security requirements for how space systems are engineered. The role has represented more than 500 hours of technical writing, consensus building, and engineering analysis, coordinating contributions from government, industry, and academic stakeholders across four continents and carrying the draft from scoping through ballot.
• Lead, Space Systems Integration Subgroup, IEEE P3536 (2026 to present). The integration layer is where ground control systems, communication links, spacecraft, user terminals, and third-party services interconnect, and where adversaries exploit trust between segments to move laterally. The subgroup specifies security requirements for these interfaces, extending to cislunar communications and commercial space stations.
• Developer, IEEE Space Systems Resilience Engineering pilot cohort. A standard changes engineering behaviour only when practitioners are trained to apply it. This IEEE SA training effort translates the standard into taught practice for working engineers, addressing a documented workforce shortage in the sector.
• Contributor, IEEE SA P3349 Space System Cybersecurity Working Group, whose minimum-requirements methodology appears in our SMC-IT publication above.

Community and professional service

• Co-Chair, Space Systems Software Bill of Materials Working Group, Space ISAC (2026 to present)
• Space ISAC member organisation; earlier service includes co-chairing the Information Sharing Working Group (2020 to 2022)
• Aerospace Contributor, Hardware Special Interest Group, MITRE (2024 to present)
• Co-Founder, Cyber Deception Village (2025 to present)

Selected presentations

• Panelist, “Digital Foundations: Securing the Software-Defined Space Enterprise,” Space ISAC Value of Space Summit VII, Colorado Springs, September 2026
• Presenter, CyberSat Summit, Washington DC area, November 2026
• “Space Collective Defense: Collective Response,” CyberSat Summit, Washington DC area, 2025
• Presenter, CYSAT, Paris, 2025

Publish with us

Part of our purpose is to give independent and non-profit researchers who lack a university affiliation a recognised, resolvable organisation to publish under. If you are researching space system security without an institutional home, we would like to hear from you.

Researchers publishing with us list the affiliation exactly as:

Organisation identifiers

• Legal registration: Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés Luxembourg, RCS F13274 (EUID: LURCSL.F13274), registered 10 May 2021
• ISNI: 0000 0005 3061 5177
• Ringgold ID: 854039
• Websites: 303overwatch.org, 303ow.team

Contact

Research enquiries: [email protected]