Cybersecurity in aviation

mood · Jan 13, 2020

Civil and military aviation cyber-security requirements issued
January 10, 2020
https://www.scmagazineuk.com/civil-...-security-requirements-issued/article/1670502

The Military Aviation Authority (MAA) and MOD have announced enhanced requirements for cyber-security, to evaluate and counter the threat to air safety. In addition, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published two notices of proposed amendment (NPA) related to cyber-security.

The following is extracted from the official statement: [...]
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Cybersecurity in aviation: a regulator's perspective

The threat of cyber-attack on military systems is multifaceted and can include incidental attacks not specifically aimed at military systems. An example is a ransomware attack, which encrypts general IT systems and demands payment to unlock the data.

Of specific concern to military systems are state-sponsored attacks, multiply directly from government teams or from covert groups with access to state resources operating under directed intent.
New civil aviation requirements for cybersecurity
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published two notices of proposed amendment (NPA) related to cybersecurity. NPA 2019-01 ‘Aircraft cybersecurity’ was added in February 2019 and NPA 2019-07 ‘Management of information security risks’ added in May 2019. [...]
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Summary
Cyber-attack poses a significant threat to the safe and efficient operation of modern military aviation systems. By supplementing existing civil regulation where necessary, the MAA must now equip the Regulated Community with cybersecurity regulation that, by design and sufficient through-life support, will ensure our critical systems and infrastructure are appropriately protected from this non-traditional, emerging threat.
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mood · Aug 10, 2020

The State of Civil Aviation Cybersecurity
August 9, 2020
https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-data-protection/civil-aviation-cybersecurity/

Civil aviation is mainly reliant on cyber-enabled technology that is used to increase the safety and efficiency of air transport. However, as the aviation industry becomes increasingly digitalized, the interconnectivity of systems and dependence on technology has led to the emergence of new risks.
The Aviation Cyber Threat Landscape
The aviation digital attack surface continues to grow in such a way that both managing risk and gaining insight into it remain difficult. With emerging technologies like machine learning and fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications experiencing wider adoption—alongside electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), and autonomous aircraft—aviation cybersecurity risk management is becoming more and more complex.
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Challenges Towards Cyber Resilience
Aviation is considered critical infrastructure in both the United States and the European Union. One key characteristic of the aviation industry is the high level of interdependency between the various sectors of activity (airports, air navigation services, airlines, etc.) and interconnectivity with related systems (maintenance services, network connectivity services, fuel distribution systems, etc.).

“Technology and digitization not only bring many advantages, but also risks associated with the challenge of finding and managing cyber vulnerabilities across complex, international operations from airports, aircraft operators, Air Traffic Management, and supply chain,” reads a paper by IATA.
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There is no single solution to aviation cybersecurity, and it will take positive collaboration across diverse stakeholders. Along with all this effort, it must be remembered that the aviation sector is a global one. Improving aviation cybersecurity will be a journey, and bringing along all stakeholders is essential if global, systemic risk is to be reduced.
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mood · Aug 11, 2020

Pen Test Partners: Boeing 747s receive critical software updates over 3.5" floppy disks
Industry binning old aircraft is an opportunity for aviation infosec
August 10, 2020
https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/10/boeing_747_floppy_drive_updates_walkthrough/

Boeing 747-400s still use floppy disks for loading critical navigation databases, Pen Test Partners has revealed to the infosec community after poking about one of the recently abandoned aircraft.
The eye-catching factoid emerged during a DEF CON video interview of PTP's Alex Lomas, where the man himself gave a walkthrough of a 747-400, its avionics bay and the flight deck.

"Aircraft themselves are really expensive beasts, you know," said Lomas as he filmed inside the big Boeing. "Even if you had all the will in the world, airlines and manufacturers won't just let you pentest an aircraft because [they] don't know what state you're going to leave it in."
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The key question everyone wants to know the answer to, though, is whether you can hack an airliner from the cheap seats, using the in-flight entertainment (IFE) as an attack vector.

[...] There is the DMZ of the information services domain that sits between the two; to jump between two layers of segregation would be tricky in my view."
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mood · Oct 10, 2020

Computers Aboard Airliners Vulnerable to Hacking, Watchdog Says
GAO issues report faulting FAA for lapses in cybersecurity
October 9, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...e-to-hacking-watchdog-says?srnd=technology-vp

Airliners carry a variety of computer systems that could become vulnerable to hackers and U.S. regulators haven’t imposed adequate counter measures, a government watchdog report concluded.

The Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t prioritized cyber risks, developed a cybersecurity training program or conducted testing of potentially vulnerable systems, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Friday.

“Until FAA strengthens its oversight program, based on assessed risks, it may not be able to ensure it is providing sufficient oversight to guard against evolving cybersecurity risks facing avionics systems in commercial airplane,” the GAO report said.
Commercial aircraft carry increasingly sophisticated computer systems, including wireless networks, seat-back entertainment, position broadcasts and devices that automatically transmit data to the ground.
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The FAA said it agreed with five of the GAO’s six recommendations.
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GAO: Aviation Cybersecurity: FAA Should Fully Implement Key Practices to Strengthen Its Oversight of Avionics Risks

Modern commercial airplanes use avionics systems and networks to share data—for GPS, weather, and communications—with pilots, maintenance crews, other aircraft, and air traffic controllers. Protection from cyberattacks is critical to safety.

Airplane manufacturers have cybersecurity controls in place and there haven't been reports of successful cyberattacks on commercial airplane IT systems to date. But evolving cyber threats and increasing connectivity between airplanes and other systems could put future flight safety at risk if the FAA doesn't prioritize oversight.
We recommended that the FAA strengthen cybersecurity oversight for airplanes.
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mood · Jul 13, 2021

New Eurocontrol Data Shows Airlines Increasingly Becoming Targets for Cyber Attacks
July 12, 2021
https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/...-increasingly-becoming-targets-cyber-attacks/

Commercial airlines accounted for 61 percent of all detected aviation-related cyber-attacks in 2020, according to new data collected by Eurocontrol analyzing rising levels of risk for the industry from criminals, hackers and state-sponsored cyber-attackers.

The latest in a series of Think Papers, Eurocontrol used data collected from its European Air Traffic Management Computer Emergency Response Team (EATM-CERT), which reported a 530 percent increase in the number of cyber-attacks that were reported to or identified by the team between 2019 and 2020. None of the cyber attack methods or attempts reported by EATM-CERT were directly against safety-critical aircraft systems or passenger mobile devices connected to in-flight internet.
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EATM-CERT’s report notes its system identified or received reports on a total of 775 cyber-attacks on airlines over the course of 2020, a significantly higher number than the next two aviation sectors combined, just over 200 for aviation OEMs and 150 for airports.

“The vast majority of these attacks – 95 percent – were financially motivated: 739 out of 775 incidents. This led to financial loss in 55 percent of cases, and the leaking or theft of personal data in an additional 34 percent of cases,” EATM-CERT notes in the report.
Eurocontrol also categorized the type of attacks against airlines and others and found that based on the 2020 data, attackers overwhelmingly targeted airlines with fraudulent websites and data theft.
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Paper: "Aviation under attack: Faced with a rising tide of cybercrime, is our industry resilient enough to cope?"
(PDF): https://www.eurocontrol.int/sites/default/files/2021-07/eurocontrol-think-paper-12-aviation-under-cyber-attack.pdf

mood · Aug 21, 2021

Cybersecurity group is on aviation’s front lines against hackers
August 21, 2021
https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Airline-News/Aviation-front-lines-against-cybercrime

The airport had become the latest victim of a ransomware attack targeting large-scale enterprises.

The threat is serious enough that it led to the creation of the Aviation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (A-ISAC), an international, nonprofit cyberthreat sharing organization founded with government encouragement in the wake of 9/11.

"There is a never-ending stream of attempts to get into networks," said A-ISAC president Jeff Troy.
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A membership organization, A-ISAC comprises airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, aircraft parts suppliers, air traffic control entities and other parties in the aviation industry. Though the organization doesn't reveal its membership list, major airlines and airports are among them.

Often, network security teams report day-to-day threats, such as email phishing campaigns from hackers. Other times, members will report unusual IT traffic they've noticed in order to validate their suspicions or to see whether they are alone, Dennis said.
Such information sharing has become increasingly critical to the aviation sector as cyberthreats have increased exponentially.
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The authors also said that every week, an aviation-related organization somewhere in the world suffers a ransomware attack.

Potentially, said Troy, an attack could be more substantial than the ones that have been reported to date. For example, instead of taking over flight display screens like happened in Cleveland, cybercriminals could take control of an airport baggage system, causing chaos.
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That's why, along with information sharing, the A-ISAC also shares best practices to stave off cyberattacks, including how to incorporate layers of defense into all vital computer systems.
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Cybersecurity in aviation

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