Nongovernment satellites are vulnerable to attack, and calling them critical infrastructure would make it easier for the U.S. to fight back
For five days in 2021, gas on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. stopped flowing. People began to panic-buy at the pumps and cancel trips.
Whether facilitating services like weather forecasting and GPS navigation or supplying imagery that informs stock trades, civilian satellites are a vital resource in the 21st century. Any attack on them— whether physical or computer-mediated—could catastrophically disrupt daily life. A successful hack could prevent cargo ships from navigating the oceans or disrupting critical telecommunications services.
Without that designation, hacking operations can target civilian satellites. In the hours preceding its invasion of Ukraine, Russian military intelligence units hacked into the European Internet service provider Viasat and wiped many of its customers’ modems. The attack did not touch Viasat’s network of satellites, but it nonetheless achieved its intended effect of blocking many users from accessing the Internet through these systems.