Intuitive Machines Secures its Lunar Program with Collective Defense from IronNet
IronNet, Inc. (NYSE: IRNT) (“IronNet”), an innovative leader transforming cybersecurity through Collective Defense, welcomes Intuitive Machines into the first Collective Defense Community for Space, which is designed to provide real-time, automated attack intelligence to defend the space development industry against cyberattacks. IronNet is a leading provider of AI-based network detection and response (NDR) capabilities and the only cybersecurity company offering a Collective Defense platform for correlating attack intelligence across organizations to enable proactive cyber defense.
Intuitive Machines is poised to be the first commercial lander on the Moon, the first to explore previously inaccessible lunar surface craters and other regions of the Moon, and the first lander at the lunar south pole. Steve Altemus, President and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said, “We have inspirational goals that depend on incredible amounts of sophisticated technology and intellectual property, as well as complex mission operations. I take the security of these operations very seriously and we are committed to bringing the most advanced cyber defense available on board, keeping our teams focused on the audacious mission of opening the lunar economy safely to the world.”
Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, which will carry numerous experiments to the lunar surface while commissioning its worldwide lunar communications network and Nova Mission Control Center, is targeted for early 2022. Later that year, IM-2 will focus on a lunar mission to the south pole and launch its first cislunar communications relay satellite – joining a growing collection of the critical components that IronNet’s Collective Defense platform and cyber operations hunt team will monitor for cyber anomalies.
A transformative strategy for protecting space
IronNet’s Collective Defense Community for Space applies AI-based network detection and response, along with an embedded expert system that rates and prioritizes alerts and integrated hunt services to detect new and unidentified cyberattack behaviors. Community members can share attack intelligence anonymously and in real time for collaboration within a secure environment.
Together, these capabilities provide organizations enhanced visibility into the entire attack landscape and support often under-resourced security teams with actionable information and contextual insight from IronNet’s team of experienced hunters, who have defended some of the most critical commercial and national-level networks against sophisticated nation-state threats. Communities can comprise organizations in a state, country, supply chain, or, as in the case of the space development initiative, a customized grouping across a specific industry sector.
Remarking on the critical importance of protecting new space missions across both public and private entities, Jack Fischer, VP of Strategic Programs at Intuitive Machines, said, “We understand the crucial value that the Collective Defense platform provides — via the shared real-time attack intelligence and response — and that value is exponentially greater as the number of entities sharing that information grows. This approach shows great potential to help protect the U.S. space program and allow us within the space industry to focus our efforts on our mission goals.”
IronNet founder General (Ret.) Keith Alexander said, “We founded IronNet to build a more effective cybersecurity solution that brings companies together to share intelligence and create a more effective, efficient, and scalable cyber solution than anything that is on the market today. We are inspired by the work that Intuitive Machines is doing, and we are committed to applying our experience in defending networks across the globe to defending Intuitive Machines, both on Earth and in space.”
IronNet uniquely supports the leaders who are pioneering the commercial space and critical infrastructure sectors to accelerate cybersecurity in the space development industry. Bringing IronNet’s expertise and technology to this innovative sector will ensure that Intuitive Machines’ forward-thinking strategies and action plans progress securely in order to protect the company’s intellectual capital.
About IronNet, Inc.
Founded in 2014 by GEN (Ret.) Keith Alexander, IronNet, Inc. (NYSE: IRNT) is a global cybersecurity leader that is transforming how organizations secure their networks by delivering the first-ever Collective Defense platform operating at scale. Employing a high number of former NSA cybersecurity operators with offensive and defensive cyber experience, IronNet integrates deep tradecraft knowledge into its industry-leading products to solve the most challenging cyber problems facing the world today.
