Policy project: Cybersecurity as a challenge for outer space security

There is a lack of cybersecurity regulations and standards addressing outer space systems. This is a growing security as well as safety issue, in particular due to an increasing dependence on the functioning of outer space infrastructure in various sectors. 

Esther Kern is a Research Fellow at the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security (BIGS) since 2019. Here, she works in national as well as international projects on various societal, security policy and economic issues related to technology and security. Her research focuses on particular on cyber and space security.

In her bachelor’s degree, Ms. Kern studied political science and history at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and in Connecticut, US. Subsequently, she earned her master’s degree in North American Studies at the John-F.-Kennedy-Institute at Freie Universität Berlin with a focus on foreign and security policy.

She gained first working experiences among others at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik – German Institute for International and Security Affairs and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington D.C. Prior to joining BIGS, Ms. Kern worked as a project manager for a non-partisan European election campaign.

(As of July 2022)