Reintroduced bipartisan Senate bill seeks improved commercial satellite cybersecurity

Additional cybersecurity safeguards for commercial satellite providers have been pushed by the Satellite Cybersecurity Act reintroduced by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Aside from mandating the Commerce Department ot establish voluntary cybersecurity guidelines for the sector and ordering the Government Accountability Office to examine ongoing federal support for the industry, the bill would also require the National Cyber Director, the National Space Council, and the Federal Communications Commission chair to collaborate with other agencies in strengthening federal digital security coordination for space systems.

"Foreign adversaries and cybercriminals continue to target cybersecurity vulnerabilities in commercial satellites, and these attacks have the potential to significantly disrupt American lives and livelihoods," said Peters, whose two prior attempts to pass the bill have been rejected on the Senate floor.

Such a development comes two years after the space sector was recommended by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0 to be a critical infrastructure sector.