LEO means low Earth orbit, the region of space where satellites fly relatively close to Earth, typically a few hundred to a couple thousand kilometers up. This orbit is popular for communication constellations because it supports lower latency and stronger signal paths than higher orbits, making it useful for broadband, backhaul, and other space-based services.
In cyber security, LEO networks matter because they are part of modern critical infrastructure. Their security depends on more than the spacecraft: ground stations, gateway links, user terminals, and network management systems all need strong access control and monitoring. Attackers may try to disrupt availability, intercept traffic, or abuse weak management interfaces in the supporting infrastructure. Defenders focus on authenticated control channels, segmented operations networks, key management, resilient routing, and careful coordination of spectrum and gateway access.