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Gregory Falco

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Gregory Falco
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Inventor and researcher
Academic background
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Academic work
DisciplineAerospace, Cybersecurity

Gregory Falco is an American inventor and researcher. Falco is a professor at Cornell University. He is a pioneer in the field of cybersecurity research and its aerospace applications. Falco is the founding chair of IEEE's Standard for Space System Cybersecurity and the NATO Country Project Director for the NATO Science for Peace and Security effort to reroute the internet to space.

Education

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Falco earned his B.S. from Cornell University in 2010, M.S. from Columbia University in 2012. and Ph.D., from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. He completed a predoctoral fellowship with the Cyber Security Project at Harvard University. His postdoctoral research was conducted at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University. Falco's PhD was funded by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop an AI system to automatically enumerate threats to space mission systems.[1]

Career

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He began his career at Accenture where he was an executive in the Strategy & Sustainability practice. While at Accenture, he lectured at Columbia University and taught a course on Smart Cities and the Evolution of Sustainability.[2][3]

In 2016 Falco co-founded the company NeuroMesh Inc. while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4] He was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology for contributions to industrial control security with his company, acquired by Meta Platforms in 2022.[5]

In 2021, Falco joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University as an assistant professor at their Institute for Assured Autonomy.[6][7][8][9] Falco directed the Aerospace ADVERSARY Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.[10]

In 2023, Falco joined the faculty at Cornell University as an assistant professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Systems Engineering.[11]

Research and recognition

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Falco's main area of work is aerospace security research.[12][13][14]

In 2018, his paper Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems, which included recommendations to reduce the cyber risk of the emergent commercial space sector and informed the United States Space Policy Directive-5, was published in the Journal of Aerospace Information Systems.[15] His work on the topic titled Job One For Space Force: Space Asset Cybersecurity was published by Harvard's Belfer Center.[16][17]

In 2022, he published a monograph co-authored with Eric Rosenbach on cyber risk management titled Confronting Cyber Risk: An Embedded Endurance Strategy for Cybersecurity.[18] He was awarded a DARPA Young Faculty Award for his project Orbital Resilient Blockchain Interagent Transaction Service (ORBITS) Architecture: A Resilient, Zero-Trust Architecture for Hosted Payloads and Space Infrastructure as a Service.[19][20] Falco is a member of the Space Systems Critical Infrastructure Working Group hosted by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.[21]

In 2023, Falco was named the founding chair of the Standard for Space Systems Cybersecurity by the IEEE Standards Association.[22][23] Falco discussed the 2023 Chinese balloon incident as an aerospace security expert with BBC News, Bloomberg News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Channel 4 and Vice Media.[24][25][26][27] His paper WannaFly: An Approach to Satellite Ransomware, the first public documentation for how to ransomware a space vehicle, was published in the 2023 IEEE 9th International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology.[28]

In 2024, NATO Science for Peace and Security named Falco the NATO Country Director to lead the development of a Hybrid space and submarine architecture to Ensure Information Security to Telecommunications (HEIST).[29][30] NATO announced the initiative will "make the internet less vulnerable to disruption by rerouting the flow of information into space in the event that undersea cables are attacked or accidentally severed".[31] The project has been described by Bloomberg News as an "effort to save the internet" and that the "Swedish Navy and Icelandic government are among those interested in using the system".[32] The contract to the United States, Sweden, Iceland and Switzerland involves academia, industry and government agencies and according to the South China Morning Post, the project will cost $2.5M dollars.[33] Falco discussed the 2024 Crowdstrike incident as a cybersecurity and critical infrastructure expert with Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, ABC News and The Daily Telegraph.[34][35][36][37][38][39]

References

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  1. ^ "Negotiating with infrastructure cyberterrorists". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  2. ^ "Gregory Falco | Columbia University School of Professional Studies". sps.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  3. ^ "Faculty Member Publishes Paper on Water Microgrids | Columbia University School of Professional Studies". sps.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  4. ^ "STEX25 strengthens collaboration between startups and industry". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
  5. ^ "30 Under 30 - Enterprise Technology". Forbes. 2018.
  6. ^ Heilweil, Rebecca (2021-07-29). "For hackers, space is the final frontier". Vox. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  7. ^ "Howard County, Johns Hopkins APL Join Forces to Leverage Smart City Innovation in Gateway District". Howard County Economic Development Authority. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  8. ^ "CaSE Welcomes Two New Assistant Professors: Gregory Falco and Jochen Mueller". Department of Civil & Systems Engineering. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  9. ^ "Gregory Falco". Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  10. ^ University, © Stanford; Stanford; California 94305. "Gregory Falco". fsi.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Satellites Are Rife With Basic Security Flaws". wired.com. 2023.
  12. ^ "Sibley School Seminars: Gregory Falco- Mission-Resilient Autonomy: When Failure is Not an Option | Cornell Engineering". www.engineering.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  13. ^ Falco, Gregory (2018-08-24). "Invaders from space — hacks against satellites threaten our critical infrastructure". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  14. ^ Condliffe, Jamie (2019-07-05). "The Week in Tech: What Should Your City Do if It's Hit by Ransomware?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  15. ^ Falco, Gregory (2019-02-01). "Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems". Journal of Aerospace Information Systems. 16 (2): 61–70. doi:10.2514/1.I010693. S2CID 117561936.
  16. ^ "Job One for Space Force: Space Asset Cybersecurity". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  17. ^ "The Space Force Should Improve the Cybersecurity of Space Assets". Lawfare. 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  18. ^ Falco, Gregory (2022). Confronting cyber risk : an embedded endurance strategy for cybersecurity. Eric B. Rosenbach. New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-19-752657-6. OCLC 1268544025.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. ^ "Gregory Falco receives DARPA Award". Department of Civil & Systems Engineering. 7 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  20. ^ "DARPA Forward Risers". forward.darpa.mil. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  21. ^ Mwobobia, Eric. "Advisors". Space Generation Advisory Council. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  22. ^ "Space Community Confronts Gap in Cybersecurity". Aviation Week. April 7, 2023.
  23. ^ "The Satellite Hack Everyone Is Finally Talking About". Bloomberg. March 1, 2023.
  24. ^ "Chinese balloon capable of gathering intelligence - US official". BBC News. February 9, 2023.
  25. ^ "High-Flying Balloon Seen as Part of Broader Chinese Spy Program". Bloomberg News. February 3, 2023.
  26. ^ "Spy balloons 'part of China's hybrid communication architecture', says aerospace security expert". Channel 4. February 13, 2023.
  27. ^ "Weather Balloon Gone Rogue or Spy Vessel at Work? We Ask the Experts". Vice News. February 6, 2023.
  28. ^ Falco, Gregory (2023). "WannaFly: An Approach to Satellite Ransomware". 2023 IEEE 9th International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology (SMC-IT). pp. 84–93. doi:10.1109/SMC-IT56444.2023.00018. ISBN 979-8-3503-4137-9. S2CID 260809927.
  29. ^ "Becoming a Space Computer Hacker". alum.mit.edu. 2024-07-19. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  30. ^ "Hybrid system would create new 'backbone' for internet in space | Cornell Chronicle". news.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  31. ^ "NATO-funded project to reroute internet to space in case of disruption to critical infrastructure". NATO - News. July 31, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  32. ^ "NATO Backs Effort to Save Internet by Rerouting to Space in Event of Subsea Attacks". Bloomberg.com. 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  33. ^ "Nato backs effort to save internet by rerouting to space in event of subsea attacks". South China Morning Post. 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  34. ^ "Tech disruptions sparked by software update highlight the fragility of globally connected technology". AP News. 2024-07-19. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  35. ^ Alcantara, Ann-Marie; James, Cordilia (July 19, 2024). "What to Do if Your Computer Is Part of the Global Outage". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  36. ^ Hunter, Tatum (July 19, 2024). "How to fix the 'blue screen of death' on your PC". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  37. ^ "- BNN Bloomberg". BNN. 2024-07-23. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  38. ^ Liedtke, Michael (July 27, 2024). "Technology's grip on modern life is pushing us down a dimly lit path of digital land mines". ABC News. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  39. ^ Corfield, Gareth; Field, Matthew; Hinchliffe, Ruby; Price, Chris; Singleton, Alex (2024-07-19). "Holidays in chaos after global IT meltdown". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
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