Areas of Vulnerability

Commercial aviation is an industry in which safety and security are paramount. However, as with other critical infrastructure, consumer demand has brought the systems that run the aviation industry into greater contact with the Internet – and created more opportunities for cyber attack. The Cipher Brief asked Chad Gray of Booz Allen Hamilton about the nature of the cyber threat to commercial aviation. He feels that the threat has been overstated, but that there is a very real need for improvements to several key areas of the aviation industry’s infrastructure in order to ward off future threats.

The Cipher Brief: Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass) has introduced a bill meant to improve cybersecurity among commercial airlines. How would you assess the current degree of cyber-vulnerability in the commercial aviation industry overall? What are some common points of vulnerability in this industry in terms of cybersecurity? How has this changed over the last few years?