Vaisala unveils industry-first solution to help secure radiosonde soundings against hybrid and cyberthreats

A pioneer in weather-related cybersecurity, Vaisala’s multi-GNSS support and industry-first message authentication help meteorological agencies defend against GPS interference and cyberattacks.

Recognizing the need to secure accurate weather forecasts, Vaisala today announced new features designed to enhance the operational efficiency, data availability, and trustworthiness of radiosonde soundings: multi-GNSS support and message authentication.

"Meteorological agencies today face complex challenges that can disrupt vital atmospheric data collection and lead to inaccurate weather forecasts, which can have devastating consequences that jeopardize public safety,” said Matti Lehmuskero, Soundings Product Line Manager at Vaisala. “Our new solution directly addresses this evolving cybersecurity threat landscape, empowering meteorological agencies to collect reliable atmospheric data and deliver forecasts society can trust."

KEY BENEFITS:

• Resilience against interference: The multi-GNSS system’s resistance to GPS interference enables meteorological agencies to collect reliable atmospheric data, even when one constellation’s signal has been degraded by natural conditions or manmade interference. Recent Vaisala sounding tests confirmed the multi-GNSS feature improves data availability by 60% on average. This redundancy helps safeguard the integrity of weather forecasts in the face of evolving threats, helping communities prepare for severe weather events and make informed safety decisions.
• Protection against cyberthreats: Message authentication for the radiosonde telemetry helps prevent malicious attempts to damage, disrupt, or manipulate critical atmospheric data. This improved data security bolsters the trustworthiness of weather data when planning emergency response, resource allocation, and other mission-critical activities.
• Seamless integration with existing systems: The new capabilities are available in RS41 radiosondes used with the Vaisala Cirrus Sounding System MW51. Existing sounding systems will continue to work with RS41 models as before, but only the MW51 unlocks these advanced security features.

For more information about how Vaisala solutions provide high-quality atmospheric sounding data for the most accurate weather forecasting, superior data processing, and better operational performance over a long life cycle, visit www.vaisala.com/soundings.

About Vaisala 

Vaisala is a global leader in measurement instruments and intelligence for climate action. We equip our customers with devices and data to improve resource efficiency, drive energy transition, and care for the safety and well-being of people and societies worldwide. With almost 90 years of innovation and expertise, we employ a team of over 2,300 experts committed to taking every measure for the planet.