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REC-0003.01
ST0001Reconnaissance
sub-technique

Communications Equipment

Parent: REC-0003

Description

Adversaries inventory space and ground RF equipment to infer capabilities, limits, and attack surfaces. On the spacecraft, they seek antenna type and geometry, placement and boresight constraints, polarization, RF front-end chains, transponder type, translation factors, gain control, saturation points, and protective features. On the ground, they collect dish size/aperture efficiency, feed/polarizer configuration, tracking modes, diversity sites, and backend modem settings. Beacon frequency/structure, telemetry signal type, symbol rates, and framing reveal demodulator parameters and help an actor build compatible SDR pipelines. Knowledge of power budgets and AGC behavior enables strategies to push hardware into non-linear regimes, causing self-inflicted denial or intermodulation. Equipment location and mounting inform visibility and interference opportunities.

Mappings

EU regulation articles

  • eu-space-actArt. 80(3)
    addresses
    moderate
    direct

    RF-equipment specifics (antenna types, transponder behavior, modem settings) are sensitive operator-held artifacts requiring 80(3)'s confidentiality categorization.

  • nis2-implAnnex 12.1.1
    addresses
    moderate
    derived

    Comms-equipment topology and capability documents are mission-critical assets; their classification drives the controls that prevent extraction by a recon adversary.

  • nis2-implAnnex 12.4.1
    addresses
    high
    direct

    Inventories of communications equipment (antennas, transponders, modems, receivers) are exactly the asset-inventory content the implementing regulation requires the entity to maintain; the inventory's confidentiality classification determines whether equipment recon can succeed against the entity.

ENISA controls

  • ENISA-STL-2025-03-sD.24-i01
    addresses
    moderate

    Information classification and labelling governs the protection of RF-equipment inventories and configuration data that REC-0003.01 targets, establishing handling rules rather than actively defending against collection.

Cross-reference controls

SPARTA countermeasures

Cite as SafeMode Space, REC-0003.01 (SPARTA v3.2).

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