This article addresses the legal implications of anti-satellite cyber capabilities, using the Turla group's hacking of satellite communications as a starting point. The author, Deborah Housen-Couriel, describes how the Turla hackers exploited vulnerabilities in satellite uplinks and downlinks to anonymously extract data from infected computers across dozens of countries, and situates this incident within a longer history of state and non-state interference with satellite communications. She frames the episode as illustrating new categories of hostile cyber capability that existing legal frameworks were not designed to address, setting up an inquiry into what legal responses might apply to such threats.
How to cite
Deborah Housen-Couriel, Cybersecurity and Anti-Satellite Capabilities (ASAT): New Threats and New Legal Responses, 4 J.L. & Cyber Warfare, No. 3 (2015), https://www.jlcw.org/articles/cybersecurity-and-anti-satellite-capabilities-asat-new-threats-and-new-legal-responses.