Blog 4-3 Aviation Security

September 25, 2021

    Hello class, for this week's blog, I will be discussing the ever growing threat towards the cyber security of the aviation industry and the ways to mitigate this issue to provide security for both the passengers and the airlines. 

    In this rapidly advancing technological world, where most of what we do depend on the use of modern technology, there are always individuals with bad intent. The issues of cyber security have been the main attention in the aviation industry since the 21st century and have always been the main problem when discussing aviation security (arXiv, 2021). Although the threat of bringing a weapon on the aircraft is the biggest thing to worry about, the use of cyber attacks in the aviation industry is something to worry about. In 2018, about 400,000 customer's personal data was stolen over a 15 day period, this included names, addresses, and bank card numbers (CnSight, 2021). The use of cyber hacking also assists in keeping the criminal in charge of this action anonymous, allowing them to continue doing this until the aviation company updates their cyber security. 

    In order to mitigate this cyber attack issue, airlines often update their cyber security attack surface to protect against a range of different types of cyber attacks including open networks, data collections, and mobile devices (Security Intelligence 2020). The rising attack points for cyber threats would be towards the air traffic controls, onboard aircraft IP networks, aircraft avionics, aircraft interface devices, aircraft communication devices, and the back office tech platforms (Security Intelligence 2020). 

In conclusion, the best way to mitigate this cyber security attack in the aviation industry is to continually update the systems to prevent hackers from gaining access to the information given between customer and the airline, as well as the aircraft's avionics systems. This would prevent any hackers from easily accessing information they should not see and keep the aviation industry a safe option for customers. 

References 

E.U, U. (2021, June 10). Cyber-Security Challenges in Aviation Industry: A Review of Current and Future Trends. Cyber-Security Challenges in Aviation Industry: A Review of Current and Future Trends. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2107.04910.pdf

Bose, R. B. (2019, October 23). How Can Airlines Protect Their Customers and Data From Evolving Cyberthreats? Security Intelligence. https://securityintelligence.com/posts/how-can-airlines-protect-their-customers-and-data-from-evolving-cyberthreats/

Kaspersen, A. K. (2016, June 8). Four threats to aviation security – and four responses. Four Threats to Aviation Security – and Four Responses. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/four-threats-to-aviation-security-and-four-responses/