Hackers find new arena in space

Jerusalem

SPACE, the "final frontier", is rapidly becoming an extra-terrestrial battleground for corporate espionage and other types of cyber attack as hackers seek to gain commercial advantage from rival networks operating in the US$330 billion space economy.

At the same time, a mounting threat from orbiting junk hurtling through space and threatening spaceships and satellites is pushing up the cost of commercial ventures and could be a brake on future investment.

Industry-watchers said that the many and varied challenges are driving up costs that might soon become prohibitive. But if the challenges are clear, hard sol…