Cybersecurity in the Space Age

Legal aspects of cybersecurity in the space age are issues that both include and transcend issues of outer space assets, space activities and outer space law. In the case of cybersecurity, the spectrum includes space law, international law and domestic law.


Without a clear understanding of the importance of cybersecurity in the space age, and without the most basic definitions of cyberattacks and WMDs, there remains an increased level of instability, legal confusion, lack of deterrence, and chaos in the international system. 


Due to the international intervention in Iraq over the past few decades, the term Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) has often been viewed as an over-politicized term. More importantly, many are inclined to believe that accusations of WMDs were cynically and disingenuously used by aggressor nations to manipulate the international system and as a pretext for war in the case of Iraq. While there is virtually no consensus dealing with cyberattacks in the international system, there is certainly no consensus on the role and legality of digital and physical counter-attacks to combat cyberattacks, both generally, as well as those of a potential WMD magnitude