All techniques
RD-0001.01
ST0002Resource Development
sub-technique

Ground Station Equipment

Parent: RD-0001

Description

Rather than compromising existing stations, adversaries may acquire or assemble their own RF ground stack. Typical building blocks include: steerable mounts with auto-track, time/frequency standards, band-appropriate antennas and feeds, LNAs and filters at the feed, low-loss IF chains, T/R switching, medium/high-power amplifiers with protection and telemetry, and weather protection. Baseband equipment often mixes SDRs with commercial modems to generate/capture mission waveforms and framing; signal generators and spectrum analyzers support calibration and banner-grabbing. On the digital side, ground data processors translate captured frames to packetized formats for analysis and rehearsal. With this kit, an actor can passively collect, actively probe, or attempt spoofing if link-layer authentication is weak.

Mappings

ENISA controls

  • Communications security with strong cryptographic mechanisms denies adversary-built equipment the ability to issue accepted commands, but RD-0001.01's defining act is assembling the ground stack, which the control does not interdict; passive collection and active probing remain available. The control blunts downstream use rather than the defining vector, so the relationship is addresses.

  • Cryptography and key management denies adversary-built ground equipment the keys to issue accepted commands, but RD-0001.01's defining act is the acquisition and assembly of an RF ground stack, which crypto does not interdict; the equipment retains passive-collection and active-probing utility. Crypto blunts the downstream commanding use rather than the technique's defining vector, so the relationship is addresses.

  • Cryptographically based bidirectional authentication on every commanding session prevents an unaffiliated ground station from establishing a commanding link.

Cross-reference controls

SPARTA countermeasures

Cite as SafeMode Space, RD-0001.01 (SPARTA v3.2).

Built 2026-07-25 from 216 techniques, 334 regulation articles, 125 ENISA controls, 2,610 framework controls, and 90 countermeasures.