About EU Space SAB
The Security Accreditation Board (SAB) plays a pivotal role as the security accreditation authority for the entire EU Space Programme and all its components: Copernicus, EGNOS, Galileo, GOVSATCOM, IRIS2, and SSA.
In this capacity, it ensures that the security risks are known, and security measures are defined to reduce such risks to an acceptable level, given the security needs of the Union and its Member States.
Within the SAB, Member States make accreditation decisions independently from the European Commission, EUSPA and ESA to approve for instance the satellite launches, the systems updates and their operations and the services. It corresponds to around 200 decisions per year.
The SAB has also the duty to advise, within its field of competence, the European Commission on the production of the General Security Requirements of the different EU Space Programme components.
The SAB is supported by Member States and the Security Accreditation Department (SADEP).
The Security Accreditation Department (SADEP) within the EUSPA organization exclusively serves the Security Accreditation Board (SAB), with its staff reporting directly to the SAB chairperson, who exercises appointing authority to uphold their independence. The SADEP staff, coming from all over the EU, perform counting security assessments, inspections, or audits, including cyber audits and cyber penetration tests.
In fulfilling its responsibilities, the SAB may need to enter into cooperation agreements, such as the one established with EASA in 2023 concerning EGNOS. These agreements serve to coordinate certification and accreditation activities effectively.