Joe South joins co-hosts Joe Patti and Adam Roth to discuss the state of communication satellite security and the doctoral research he is doing to change it. As Director of Cloud & AI Security at Abira Security and host of the Security Unfiltered podcast (132,000 YouTube subscribers), Joe works enterprise security by day and researches satellite cybersecurity by night.
The conversation covers what satellite security actually looks like in 2026: why the defensive perimeter is almost entirely on the ground, what happens when a satellite’s 10-to-12 year service life collides with a security landscape that shifts every 90 days, and how a zero trust framework could work on hardware that operates on less than three watts of power. Joe walks through his proposed approach, which combines TPM-based component authentication with a distributed trust ring across orbits.
If you work in cloud or infrastructure security and have never thought seriously about space as part of your threat model, Joe’s insights will get you spun up. We also dig into Joe’s personal story about self-sufficiency, the realities of pursuing a doctorate while working full-time, and honest advice for anyone building a podcast around a technical niche.
Guest: Joe South, Director of Cloud & AI Security at Abira Security, host of Security Unfiltered, doctoral candidate (communication satellite security / post-quantum encryption).
Topics Discussed
- Satellite Security vs. Ground Station Vulnerabilities
- CubeSat Lifespan and Patching Challenges in Orbit
- Zero Trust Framework for Low-Power Satellites
- TPM-Based Component Authentication and Distributed Trust Ring
- Hack-a-Sat and the Cost of Testing Satellite Security
- Cyber Warfare, Attribution, and NATO Article 4/5 Implications
- The 2022 Viasat KA-SAT Attack as Case Study
- Pursuing a Doctorate While Working Full-Time in Cybersecurity
- Podcast Growth Advice from Security Unfiltered