Space Terrorism: Hackers Target Satellites and Space Assets
- An attack on a satellite can take modern life offline, affecting everything from basic communication to banking.
- The next battleground for global security may not be on Earth,but above it.
- As satellites control everything from navigation and banking to weather forecasting and military operations, experts warn that space is now a target for terrorism - and say we...
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Space Terrorism: the Emerging Threat to Modern Life
An attack on a satellite can take modern life offline, affecting everything from basic communication to banking. But international law is lagging, and an expert warns we risk turning the final frontier into the next frontline.
The next battleground for global security may not be on Earth,but above it.
As satellites control everything from navigation and banking to weather forecasting and military operations, experts warn that space is now a target for terrorism – and say we aren’t prepared.
“It’s no longer a question whether space terrorism occurs, but how we, as an international community, respond when it does,” says Anna marie Brennan, a law lecturer at Waikato University, who has been researching outer space law and governance for the past seven years.
“If we don’t have those clear rules, if we don’t have accountability mechanisms, corporate strategies between states and also between states and space companies, do we actually run the risk of turning the final frontier into the next battlefield?”
Satellites, she says, have already been caught in the crossfire of cyber attacks and espionage.
Recent Incidents
In March 2022, Network Battalion (NB65), a group affiliated with Anonymous, allegedly hacked the Russian civilian space agency Roscosmos in protest of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
More recently, in September this year, the navigation system of a plane carrying Ursula von der leyen