Aviation Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity in the commercial and private aviation

The aviation industry, including both commercial and private aviation, is highly dependent on digital technologies, interconnected systems, and data networks. This reliance exposes the industry to an increasing number of cybersecurity threats that can impact flight safety, operational integrity, and passenger trust.

Threat actors target aircraft systems (avionics, communication, and navigation systems), airline and airport infrastructure (reservation systems, baggage handling, air traffic control), private jet operations, supply chain, and maintenance, including third-party vendors and maintenance providers. Airline ticketing, reservation, and loyalty programs are vulnerable. Ransomware attacks can paralyze airline operations, causing flight cancellations and delays. Automated baggage handling, biometric verification, and digital access control systems, make them also vulnerable to attacks.

Private aviation is often associated with high-profile individuals, including executives, government officials, celebrities, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). The confidentiality and security of their travel plans are critical, yet many vulnerabilities exist in private jet operations that threat agents and state-sponsored groups exploit to track, surveil, and even manipulate their movements.

Unlike commercial airlines, private aviation often lacks standardized cybersecurity protocols and centralized security oversight. The key weaknesses include insecure flight tracking systems, unprotected digital communications with weak encryption or unencrypted channels used for flight planning and passenger communication, vulnerable satellite communications, inflight Wi-Fi and communication systems. Private jet operators rely on third-party service providers for bookings, maintenance, and handling, creating multiple attack vectors.

OSINT and Aviation Security

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) refers to the process of collecting and analyzing publicly available data to gather intelligence. In the context of aviation security, OSINT plays a dual role: it is used both by security professionals to enhance aviation safety and by threat actors to exploit vulnerabilities.

The aviation industry, including airports, airlines, aircraft systems, and private aviation, generates a vast amount of publicly accessible information that can be analyzed for intelligence gathering. This makes OSINT both an asset and a risk in aviation security.

Security professionals use OSINT to identify emerging threats and monitor aviation security risks, such as terrorist threats against airports and airlines, cybersecurity vulnerabilities in aviation IT systems, civil unrest that could disrupt operations, and unusual activity around airports.

Cybersecurity teams also use OSINT to find exposed credentials of airline employees, monitor forums and discussions, and track threats targeting airline operations. As an example, security teams have discovered leaked login credentials for an airport’s security system for sale in the dark web and on a forum.

OSINT techniques are also used by cybercriminals, terrorists, and spies. They exploit publicly available flight data to track movements of individuals or aircrafts, but also airport CCTV camera feeds in unsecured databases, social media posts by passengers and staff, google earth and satellite imagery of airport layouts, and leaked security manuals.

Threat actors use OSINT for targeted social engineering attacks on aviation employees. They craft realistic phishing attacks targeting airline staff, pilots and crew, air traffic control personnel, and IT personnel. LinkedIn profiles often reveal employee roles, corporate email addresses, and travel schedules. Threat actors send spear-phishing emails to steal credentials. Employee awareness training to recognize phishing is critical for aviation security.

Artificial Intelligence Enabled Attacks and the Aviation Industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the aviation industry, enhancing efficiency, security, and passenger experience. However, AI is also a double-edged sword, enabling sophisticated cyberattacks, misinformation campaigns, and system disruptions. For example:

- AI generates highly convincing emails and messages to trick aviation employees. Airline staff, pilots, and ATC operators fall for phishing scams easier now, leading to credential theft.

- AI creates fake voice, video, and images of executives, pilots, or security personnel. Fake communications trick employees into making decisions, changing flight plans, or exposing sensitive data.

- Automated AI-Powered Malware and Ransomware speeds up network penetration, data exfiltration, and system hijacking.

- AI learns and adapts to security defenses in real time. Traditional cybersecurity tools may fail against AI-driven attacks.

- AI generates fake aircraft signals or flight data to confuse or mislead controllers, cause flight disruptions, or increase collision risks.

- AI-Generated aviation disinformation is a very important threat. AI creates realistic fake news, fraudulent travel alerts, and rumors that lead to panic, financial losses, or reputation damage for airlines.

With AI-powered social media reconnaissance tools, threat actors scan LinkedIn, Facebook, and aviation forums, identify employees with high-level access (IT admins, air traffic controllers, airline maintenance staff, airport security personnel), cross-reference employee work schedules, habits, and personal connections, and identify the most vulnerable targets. They can determine who is most susceptible to manipulation, coercion, or deception. Temporary or seasonal aviation staff are often vulnerable due to a lack of cybersecurity training. Employees working late shifts or weekends, when security oversight is lower, are also targeted.

Threat actors increasingly impersonate high-ranking aviation executives to manipulate junior employees into performing unauthorized actions. These attacks exploit the psychological principle of authority bias, where junior employees are less likely to challenge or verify instructions from senior executives, and hesitate to challenge authority.

Managers and employees are also high value targets.

Managers and employees working in the aviation industry must understand that they are high value targets. For them, standard security awareness programs are not going to suffice. The way they are being targeted is anything but standard or usual. They are the recipients of the most sophisticated, tailored attacks, including state-sponsored attacks. These are attacks that are often well planned, well crafted, and employ advanced psychological techniques able to sway a target towards a desired (compromising) behavior without raising any alarms.

Countries expand their global intelligence footprint to better support their growing political, economic, and security interests around the world, increasingly challenging existing alliances and partnerships. They employ an array of tools, especially influence campaigns, to advance their interests or undermine the interests of other countries. They turn a power vacuum into an opportunity.

Countries use proxies (state-sponsored groups, organizations, organized crime, etc.) as a way to accomplish national objectives while limiting cost, reducing the risk of direct conflict, and maintaining plausible deniability.

With plausible deniability, even if the target country is able to attribute an attack to an actor, it is unable to provide evidence that a link exists between the actor and the country that sponsors the attack.

The vast majority of cyberattacks succeed by exploiting human error, or by manipulating employees who have authorized access to critical systems and sensitive data. Employees at all levels, including pilots, maintenance crews, air traffic controllers, ground staff, and supply chain partners, are potential entry points for cyber threats. To mitigate these risks, aviation organizations must implement comprehensive cybersecurity training, awareness programs, robust access control policies, and advanced threat detection measures to minimise the likelihood of human errors or manipulation leading to security breaches.

Our training programs

Cybersecurity training for the commercial and private aviation

Cybersecurity training for the Board of Directors and the CEO in the commercial and private aviation

NIS 2 Directive Training for the commercial and private aviation

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