The Cyber-ASAT: On the Impact of Cyber Weapons in Outer Space

The development and deployment of satellite technologies have allowed military strategy and power to be brought to new heights that have never been seen before. Historically, it has been understood that satellites are physically fragile and vulnerable instruments. As we rely more and more on these technologies for communication and surveillance, it is becoming increasingly crucial that we have an understanding as to how satellites might be impacted by non-physical threats. Pulling from the abstract of this paper, such “presents a strategic analysis of the impact of cyber weapons on three key stabilizing factors which have thus far contributed to peace in space.” This paper primarily focuses on how cyber anti-satellite weapons (ASATs) are a “real and present danger” that need to be addressed. This is supported by simulations demonstrating that a small cyber-attack on singular satellite can have physical cascading impacts on an entire network of assets in orbit. Most importantly, when comparted to kinetic ASATs, cyber based attacks have a “low risk of attribution” and hence a “low risk of retaliation.”