Senate Lawmakers Endorse Measure to Protect Commercial Satellites From Cyber Threats

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairperson Sen. Gary Peters and Sen. John Cornyn have reintroduced the Satellite Cybersecurity Act to secure commercial satellite systems from cyberattacks. The same measure was introduced in the Senate in 2022 but did not progress after clearing the committee level. The measure calls on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to protect commercial satellites that provide data on agriculture, scientific research and other infrastructure systems critical to national and economic security, the Senate committee website reported.

Peters stressed the importance of bolstering the cybersecurity defenses of commercial satellite operators considering the catastrophic economic and security impact of an attack on American systems. Cybersecurity experts raised the alarm following the Russian government’s reported involvement in the 2022 cyberattack against Viasat’s Ka-SAT network, which affected modems in Ukraine and Europe. Once approved, the Satellite Cybersecurity Act requires CISA to consolidate voluntary satellite cybersecurity recommendations and make these online resources publicly available to help companies, including small businesses, secure their systems.