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The EU Space Cybersecurity Hackathon (17–18 Oct in Madrid) brings together top mentors in AI, cryptography, and space security to guide teams through real-world threats like GPS spoofing, signal jamming, and supply chain attacks. They will help participants to build and defend space-ready solutions secured by AI systems, deploy RAG pipelines, and integrate post-quantum cryptography.
September 25, 2025
When the EU Space Cybersecurity Hackathon kicks off on 17–18 October, participants will be guided by a squad of mentors at the cutting edge of AI, cryptography, and space systems security.
Hackathon Architect William Ferguson, Cyber Capability Development Consultant at Thales Cyber Solutions Luxembourg and Space, Cybersecurity, Operations, and Resilience (SCOR)™ researcher at ethicallyHackingspace(eHs)®, frames the challenge in stark terms:
“This event is about much more than technical exercises. It is about demonstrating why secure software supply chains matter so deeply to the EU and to the global community. These supply chains underpin the resilience of space systems.”
From GPS spoofing that can misdirect aircraft, to signal jamming that cripples satellite communications, to supply chain compromises capable of undermining entire satellite networks – the risks are very real. Ferguson emphasizes that AI is becoming entangled in every one of these threat domains, making it urgent to develop practitioners who can apply AI safely and responsibly:
“We are grounding this effort in established frameworks. One example is the Cloud Security Alliance’s AI Control Matrix. We are also looking ahead to their Trusted AI Safety Expert program, which could bring the EU meaningful alignment with the safe and responsible application of AI. Many of these concepts connect directly to my work as training lead within the Space ISAC Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) subgroup.
They also relate to my early conversations with the CSA in Luxembourg and globally, around AI safety for space and hybrid space/cloud environments. I am also carrying forward insights from the MITRE Hardware Special Interest Group, where we recently released the list of the most important hardware weaknesses. My goal is to bring hardware-focused scenarios into future hackathons, creating a more comprehensive view of supply chain risk”.
That’s where the mentor squad comes in, helping participants navigate:
This isn’t theory – it’s applied security, grounded in real-world scenarios.
David Morenas Vega, COO and co-founder at RCC Advisory, co-organizer of the hackathon:
”In the current geopolitical context, the internet and communications are another battlefield. We must be prepared to prevent the actions of potential enemies, and this hackathon is a tool to prevent a disconnect between the fourth (space) and fifth (internet) domains where modern warfare is waged.”
Ricardo Stefanescu, CTO at Puffin Security, Professor of Quantum Computing, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria:
“As Europeans, we must ensure our collective safety, and that starts by maintaining robust communications in times of crisis. We want to find talent that is able to solve problems in challenging environments.”
Ernesto Sánchez, Chief of IoT Cybersecurity Project at Orange Spain:
“Satellite communications are becoming increasingly important today, as they eliminate the ground factor and the need for terrestrial deployments that can easily suffer attacks or accidents, and, obviously, need to be reliable and secure”.
Israel Nadal, Read Team and Specialist in operational technology cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, and psychological operations:
”With years of experience in cybersecurity, I know firsthand that satellites are among the most critical — and vulnerable — environments. A security hackathon in this field is not just a technical challenge: it’s the chance to anticipate real threats and design solutions that truly make an impact. Having worked on detecting and analyzing vulnerabilities in complex infrastructures, I’m convinced that innovation and collaboration are the key to safeguarding our future in space.”
Olga Nasibullina, Co-Founder at THE SIGN.MEDIA:
“Cybersecurity in space is not a challenge for one company or one country — it’s a mission for all of us. This hackathon brings brilliant minds together to protect the future of space.”
José-Ángel Domínguez Pérez, Mathematician and University Professor, University of Salamanca*:
“Cryptography based on elliptic curve arithmetic (ECC) is now a powerful and versatile tool for communications security. In its transformation to the world of post-quantum computing, we are gambling with the future of cybersecurity.”
Manuel García Cortés, Researcher and Educator, University of Salamanca*:
“Cryptographic algorithms in crisis situations cannot depend on access to large IT support teams; we must find systems that are capable of operating with minimal hardware and software devices.”
* The Chair at the University of Salamanca is supported by Preservacion35, a leader in data protection and preservation, committed to safeguarding documentary heritage for future generations.
The threats we are addressing are not abstract. GPS spoofing can misdirect aviation routes, disrupt maritime transport, or distort financial transactions that rely on precise timing. Signal jamming can block or degrade satellite communications, undermining emergency services, military coordination, and civilian infrastructure. Data breaches and command hijacking could enable attackers to modify mission data, disable services, or even take control of spacecraft. And supply chain attacks on ground stations, software updates, or hardware components have the potential to compromise entire satellite networks.
Just this month, these risks moved from theory to reality:
These incidents highlight why building secure, resilient space and navigation systems — capable of withstanding spoofing, jamming, and cyberattacks — is more urgent than ever.
What also unites all of these challenges is their dependence on software and hardware as the common underpinning, and today there are active efforts to bring AI into every one of these problem sets. That makes it clear we must get a handle on AI now.
In just 24 hours, during the hackathon teams will deploy retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines on real space datasets, defend their applications against prompt-level adversarial manipulation, and integrate post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to future-proof their systems.
If teams leave with the ability to:
- Deploy AI-enabled software securely,
- Integrate PQC into real-world RAG applications, and
- Defend and probe AI at the prompt level,
then the hackathon will have achieved something rare – real progress in building a resilient, innovative, and security-minded community.
The countdown is on. Only two team spots remain.
Register here: https://luma.com/u81cjnoz
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