Special Colloquium on Cybersecurity for Space Sector
The space sector plays a crucial role in societal, scientific pursuits, and strategic applications like communication and navigation systems. It is increasingly reliant on digital technologies and an interconnected network. Space assets are particularly susceptible to cyberattacks with unpredictable consequences. The opening up of the Space Sector has encouraged many startups and established players to venture into this arena. There is a need to strike a fine balance between cybersecurity and other factors like economics. This talk will focus on cyber threats, challenges, and best practices for the Space Sector. It will also cover Advanced Persistent Threats with a few examples of long-duration compromises in the infrastructure of international agencies/ corporations.
Shri Rajiv Ratan Chetwani is currently serving as an Outstanding Scientist and Director of the Directorate of Information Systems & Management (DISM) at ISRO Headquarters, Bengaluru. He also holds the positions of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Department of Space (DOS) and ISRO, and Programme Director for the IT & ITeS Implementation Program (IIIP), ISRO/DOS. Earlier, he was involved in activities related to on-board software development for the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan). Before joining ISRO in March 1997, he worked at TATA Special Steels Limited and Devi Ahilya University. He is a member of the Board of Studies for graduate and postgraduate courses in two universities and has chaired sessions and delivered talks at several conferences and institutions, including the India Space Congress, Global Space Exploration Conference 2025 (GLEX 2025), IIT Guwahati, Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024, and the Board of Directors of Karnataka Bank Limited, and was also invited as a panellist at the India AI-Summit 2026.
Awards:
- Chief Information Officer(CIO) Excellence Award in 2022 for Cyber Security & Privacy from Confederation of Indian Industry(CII).
- ASI Space Gold Medal for 2016.
- ISRO’s team excellence award for 2015.
- Brigadier ML Anand IETE National award for 2007.
- Named as one of the top 100 influencers in Cyber Security in India on 27th Jul 2024 by CyberFrat group.
- Named as one of the top 100 influencers in Cyber Security in India on 6th December 2025 by CyberFrat group.
He has six software copyrights to his credit and has published more than 30 papers in national and international journals.
