Legislation on Commercial Satellite Cybersecurity Reintroduced by U.S. Senators

Senators Gary Peters and John Cornyn have reintroduced the Satellite Cybersecurity Act, which aims to protect commercial satellite operators from cyber attacks. The legislation would require the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to consolidate voluntary satellite cybersecurity recommendations for companies and provide a publicly available online resource for satellite-specific cyber resources. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to perform a study on how the federal government supports commercial satellite industry cybersecurity. The legislation highlights that critical infrastructure systems like pipelines, water, and electric utilities are heavily reliant on commercial satellites. The U.S. government does not consider space assets as a critical infrastructure sector, an issue that the commercial space industry has lobbied for.