Critical Infrastructure

There is no universally accepted definition of critical infrastructure in the context of space security. In the context of cybersecurity, the UN General Assembly has highlighted that critical infrastructures include “those used for, inter alia, the generation, transmission and distribution of energy, air and maritime transport, banking and financial services, e-commerce, water supply, food distribution and public health—and the critical information infrastructures that increasingly interconnect and affect their operations”.* Critical infrastructure is considered of fundamental importance and “the backbone of a society’s vital functions, services and activities. If these were to be significantly impaired or damaged, the human costs as well as the impact on a State’s economy, development, political and social functioning and national security could be substantial”.**

As space technology is now integrated into almost all essential sectors and functions (including defence, agriculture, transportation, energy, and telecommunications), several stakeholders have called for its designation as a critical infrastructure sector, both at the domestic and international levels. Some States include space systems as critical infrastructure in their domestic legislation and policies.

* See UN General Assembly resolution 58/199 on the Creation of a global culture of cybersecurity and the protection of critical information infrastructures (30 Jan. 2004), available online at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/509571.

** See Report of the Group of Governmental Experts A/76/135, on Advancing responsible State behaviour in cyberspace in the context of international security (14 July 2021), https://undocs.org/A/76/135.